Superboy #40

Part three of the "Meltdown" arc arrives in this June 1997 issue, and the cover by Ramon Bernado and Doug Hazlewood sets a tense, unsettling scene: a grotesquely deteriorating figure suspended in a glowing green containment cylinder takes center stage, while a blue-skinned figure in a Superman-style costume stands watchfully to the left and Supergirl looks on with concern from the right. The high-tech, darkly lit laboratory setting gives the whole image a sense of urgency and dread that fits the "Life Support" subtitle perfectly. With Ron Marz writing and Bernado penciling, this chapter of the trilogy looks like it raises the stakes in a serious way.