Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill #5

The penultimate chapter of this 2005 Marvel limited series arrives with a cover by Andrea Di Vito that sets the stakes unmistakably high — a massive, snarling dragon-like creature wreathed in flames dominates the foreground, while a cloaked, armored figure holding a hammer looms large in a lightning-charged sky above. Writers Michael Avon Oeming and Dan Berman bring their story to the brink with this installment subtitled "Omega: The End," and Di Vito's art gives the whole thing a suitably epic, mythic weight. One issue remains after this, and the cover makes very clear that the road to the finale runs straight through fire and fury.