Supreme Power: Hyperion #5

The finale of Marvel MAX's five-part Supreme Power: Hyperion limited series arrives with a cover by Gary Frank that places the red-and-white-costumed Hyperion floating in the vast silence of space, the curve of Earth glowing beneath him and a massive chunk of rocky debris drifting just to his left. Straczynski, Jurgens, and Janson bring this mature-readers saga to its close with the aptly titled "The Prodigal Son," and the solitary, contemplative figure on that cover — fists clenched, eyes fixed on something just out of frame — quietly captures the weight of a character wrestling with power on a planetary scale. A satisfying capstone to one of the more thoughtful superhero series Marvel published in 2006.