The Invincible Iron Man #28

This striking issue of Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. fills the entire cover with an extreme close-up of Tony Stark's face — rendered in brooding, painterly detail by Gerald Parel — his expression taut with intensity and, reflected in his eye, a ghostly glimpse of the Iron Man armor. Part eight of the "Haunted" arc, written by Daniel and Charles Knauf with interior art by Roberto de la Torre and colors by Dean White, signals that whatever is weighing on the man behind the armor runs very deep. It's a quietly unsettling image that makes the most of 2008 Marvel's confidence in letting a single face carry an entire cover.