The Authority #6

This March 2009 WildStorm entry in the relaunched Authority series puts its tension right up front — the cover by Simon Coleby fills the entire frame with two faces locked in brutal proximity: a battered, bloodied human visage pressed cheek-to-cheek against a grotesque, decaying creature with a serrated, spine-like protrusion jutting between them. The contrast between the two — one wounded but grimly alive, the other rotting and monstrous — sets a tone of grim, visceral confrontation that writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning clearly aren't shying away from. The issue also includes the second chapter of the Christie Blaze backup story by Christos Gage and Phil Noto, making this a nicely packed read.