Supreme Power: Nighthawk #3

The third chapter of this MAX Comics limited series delivers one of 2006's most unsettling cover images: a clown in full makeup stares out with cold, intense eyes while gripping a large knife over a birthday cake decorated with Nighthawk's mask and the words "Happy 6th Birthday" — surrounded by oblivious partygoers who have no idea what's in their midst. Steve Dillon's cover art wrings maximum dread out of the contrast between a cheerful children's celebration and that deeply wrong expression on the clown's face. Daniel Way's "The Greatest Show on Earth" promises exactly the kind of dark, adult storytelling that makes the Marvel MAX imprint so compelling.