The Mighty Thor #20

Part four of six in the "Everything Burns" crossover, and Alan Davis and Mark Farmer's cover makes the stakes unmistakably clear — Thor strains forward through a world consumed by fire and crackling lightning, his winged helmet blazing as Mjolnir lies just out of reach on scorched ground below him. The image of the God of Thunder separated from his hammer amid pillars of white-hot energy captures a real sense of desperate urgency. With Matt Fraction and Kieron Gillen co-writing and Javier Rodríguez's searing colors turning every panel amber and gold, this 2012 series was firing on all cylinders.