Shadowpact #12

That blood-streaked sword dominating the cover of Shadowpact #12 sets an immediately ominous tone, as a screaming woman in green and gold clutches its blade while a masked heroine in blue looks on with quiet dread — and a snarling horned demon looms behind them both. The cover's teaser, "The Death of Nightmaster?", raises the kind of question that keeps you turning pages, and Tom Derenick and Wayne Faucher deliver it with real dramatic punch. Bill Willingham's run on this DC supernatural team title was always willing to go to dark places, and this June 2007 issue looks like no exception.