Shadowpact #16

Zatanna takes center stage on this October 2007 cover — top hat askew, fishnet stockings flashing, and her trademark backwards spell erupting from her lips — while the chaos of a crumbling, smoke-filled battlefield swirls around her, packed with DC heroes including Superman, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and a winged figure among others. It's a wonderfully busy composition by cover artists Tom Derenick and Wayne Faucher that captures the sheer scale of "The Redemption Contract, Part Three: Down in the Zero." Writer Bill Willingham and the art team of Derenick and Faucher bring real energy to this series, and issue #16 looks like a thrilling midpoint in a story that's clearly pulling in the wider DC universe.