Stormwatch: Team Achilles #20

The tension is palpable on Jason Pearson's cover for Stormwatch: Team Achilles #20, where an armored figure identified as Santini stands over a prone, desperate man with gun drawn and declares "Enough talk! This ends now!!" — while a horrified woman cries out that the man on the ground is innocent. A crowd of armed soldiers fills the blood-red background, making it clear that whatever confrontation has been building in "New Beginnings," it's reaching a breaking point. Wildstorm's mature-readers series delivers that rare blend of grounded military tension and superhuman stakes that made Team Achilles one of 2004's more compelling ensemble books.