Secret Warriors #25

Issue #25 of Jonathan Hickman's Secret Warriors arrives at a milestone number with a cover by Paul Renaud that radiates quiet menace — a black-clad, sunglasses-wearing figure stands front and center, flanked by a bald, heavyset man with a gun and a rifle-toting figure in a hat, all set against a zodiac wheel rendered in deep crimson. The "Wheels Within Wheels" subtitle feels perfectly suited to the layered intrigue on display, hinting at the kind of sprawling, conspiratorial storytelling this series delivered throughout 2011. With Alessandro Vitti on interior art and Hickman at the helm, this is spy-thriller comics firing on all cylinders.