Superman: The Man of Steel #101

Bathed entirely in sickly green Kryptonite light, this June 2000 issue delivers one of the more viscerally unsettling Superman covers of its era — a close-up of the Man of Steel's face contorted in agony, his skin radiating the toxic glow as hands press in from either side. The cover taglines "Death by Kryptonite!" and "The Search for Lois Continues!" hint at the dual pressures bearing down on Superman, and Doug Mahnke's pencils with Tom Nguyen's inks wring every ounce of dread from the image. With Mark Schultz writing and Pablo Raimondi on interior art, issue #101 looks like a compelling chapter in a story that clearly isn't pulling its punches.