The Legend of the Shield #9

Things look grim for the Shield on this 1992 Impact Comics entry, as the cover by Grant Miehm depicts the star-spangled hero bound in cables and dangling helplessly over a rooftop ledge while a group of armed, coordinated adversaries — the Gun Club — look on from above with cool confidence. A sleek aircraft looms in the background, and a small inset figure in the upper corner adds to the sense of a larger world at stake. With Miehm also handling the interior art alongside writers Mark Waid and Grant Miehm, this is a tight creative package that delivers a genuinely tense snapshot of a hero at a serious disadvantage.