The Outsiders #22

Jim Aparo's cover for issue #22 (August 1987) sets the stakes immediately: Batman and a massive, cloaked antagonist loom nose-to-nose in a tense face-off overhead, while the full Outsiders squad — Geo-Force firing a pink energy blast, Halo, Katana, Black Lightning, Looker, Windfall, Metamorpho, and a space-suited figure — clash in a furious melee below. Writer Mike W. Barr pits the team against what the title promises as a "Strike Force," and the sheer number of combatants on display suggests nobody is getting the night off. It's a vivid snapshot of the street-level, ensemble energy that made this series one of DC's more distinctive team books of the era.