Suicide Squad #24

A ragtag squad of expendable operatives charges headlong into danger on this February 1989 cover, with a powerfully built figure in an orange-and-yellow costume leading the rush while a pink-haired woman in yellow, a caped figure in green, a soldier in camouflage with a rifle, and several others scramble across a jungle backdrop — all under the shadow of a hovering helicopter. John Ostrander and Kim Yale's "Slings and Arrows" promises the kind of morally complicated, high-stakes action that made this series a standout of late-'80s DC storytelling. Luke McDonnell and Karl Kesel deliver a cover with real kinetic energy, capturing a team that looks like it's already in over its head and wouldn't have it any other way.