The Pulse #9

Part four of the "Secret War" crossover arrives in The Pulse #9, with a cover by Mike Mayhew that pulls no punches: Wolverine looms in his yellow-and-blue costume, adamantium claws fully extended on both hands, crouched over the motionless body of a dark-haired woman sprawled across the pavement. Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Lark bring their street-level sensibility to a series that keeps the Marvel universe's darker corners in sharp focus, and this 2005 installment looks to be one of the more tense chapters in the arc.