Superman #158

Superman #158 kicks off the four-part "Critical Condition" crossover with one of the more unsettling cover images of 2000: the Man of Steel himself rendered sickly green and riddled with cables and medical machinery, his body clearly under siege. Reflected in a monitor-like visor above him are three figures — Superman in his street clothes, a blonde woman, and an armored being — hinting at a miniaturized "journey into the Kryptonian" that the cover text promises. Penciled by Doug Mahnke and inked by Cam Smith, it's a visually inventive opener from the Loeb–Rouleau–Mendoza team that makes the stakes feel genuinely urgent.