Superboy #24

Part of DC's New 52 initiative, Superboy #24 (December 2013) pits the young Kryptonian clone against one of DC's most unsettling villains — and the cover makes the threat crystal clear. Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund's cover shows a wide-eyed, clearly overwhelmed Superboy reeling in the foreground while the grinning Psycho Pirate looms above him, golden Medusa Mask in hand and radiating a burst of reality-warping energy. With Justin Jordan writing and Robson Rocha on interior art, this issue looks like a genuinely tense confrontation between raw Kryptonian power and a villain whose weapon goes straight for the mind.