Superman: The Man of Steel #108

Lex Luthor rides triumphantly through Metropolis in a sleek red convertible, arms raised in victory beneath enormous "President Lex Luthor" campaign banners — while chaos erupts around him in the form of a massive, tentacled mechanical creature threatening the city. Superman streaks in from the background, tiny but determined against the urban skyline, with a giant smirking Luthor face looming overhead like a campaign billboard come to life. With Doug Mahnke and Tom Nguyen delivering a cover that's equal parts political spectacle and full-blown crisis, this January 2001 chapter of Superman: The Man of Steel — "Metropolis Is Burning" — captures the unsettling thrill of a world where Lex Luthor's presidential ambitions and Superman's worst nightmares seem to be colliding at once.