The Punisher #18

Frank Castle stares out from the cover with cold, unsettling intensity, his skull emblem prominent against his chest as silhouetted armed figures loom in the background beneath a bold Union Jack — hinting at a British-flavored chapter in Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's gritty Marvel Knights run. Tim Bradstreet's cover art gives the whole thing a stark, near-photographic weight that suits the Punisher's uncompromising world perfectly. "Downtown" promises another hard-edged installment from one of 2002's most compelling takes on Marvel's one-man war on crime.