The New 52: Futures End #9

The cover of this September 2014 installment — rendered by Ryan Sook — throws readers straight into a brutal mid-air collision: a snarling, golden-skinned powerhouse wrapped in heavy chains has a dark-suited Superman variant dead in his grip, debris exploding in every direction against a fractured cityscape backdrop. It's a striking image that captures the high-stakes tension running through DC's sprawling New 52 weekly series, with the writing team of Brian Azzarello, Jeff Lemire, Dan Jurgens, and Keith Giffen and artist Patrick Zircher continuing to push the future of the DC Universe to its breaking point.