The Batman Chronicles #23

Batman looms over Gotham's rain-slicked rooftops on this atmospheric Winter 2001 cover, flanked by two snarling stone gargoyles that seem almost alive in Brian Stelfreeze's brooding, shadow-drenched artwork. The image captures everything that makes the Dark Knight compelling — a solitary, cape-draped figure perched in the city's gothic architecture, watchful and formidable. Inside, Doug Moench and Bo Hampton deliver "The Bomb, The Bull, The Butler & The Bat," one of three lost tales from the streets of Gotham promised on this very cover.