Superman #35

Superman #35 finds the Man of Steel under brutal assault, and the cover by John Romita Jr. and Klaus Janson makes that tension immediately visceral — a massive armored figure grips Superman by the throat as blazing energy beams lance across the image, with the hero straining against the assault, mouth open in a raw, defiant cry. It's a striking piece of New 52 imagery that captures Superman genuinely on the back foot, which writer Geoff Johns clearly relishes as a storytelling challenge in "The Men of Tomorrow, Chapter Four: The Quick Fix." If you've been following this arc, issue #35 looks like exactly the kind of punishing escalation that keeps readers coming back.