The Punisher #28

Part one of "Streets of Laredo" opens this Marvel Knights arc with a cover by Tim Bradstreet that sets an immediately grim tone: Frank Castle stands amid a blasted urban landscape, armed and staring out with cold resolve, framed within a sniper's crosshairs alongside a grid of skulls rendered in stark, tinted detail. Garth Ennis and Cam Kennedy are a reliable team for this kind of unflinching street-level storytelling, and Bradstreet's painterly composition makes the Punisher feel less like a superhero and more like an inevitability. If you've been following this 2003 run, issue #28 promises exactly the kind of hard-edged momentum the series has built its reputation on.