The Authority #13

This WildStorm series was already doing something special by issue #13, and Frank Quitely and Trevor Scott's cover makes that unmistakably clear — a massive, densely packed crowd of super-powered individuals fills the frame, with a commanding, arms-crossed figure front and center drawing the eye. The sheer number of extraordinary faces here — from a silver-skinned figure to a lion-maned being to a child with mechanical implants — signals that "The Nativity: One of Four" is operating on a genuinely ambitious scale. Mark Millar's run with this creative team was already turning heads in 2000, and this ensemble-loaded image promises a story with serious scope.