The Punisher #42

This November 1990 issue of Marvel's long-running Punisher series puts Frank Castle in an ice-cold standoff that jumps right off the cover: a masked gunman presses a weapon to a terrified hostage's face and demands Frank drop his weapon, only to be met with the chilling reply, "What do I care? My kid is already dead." The cover art — penciled by Ron Wagner and inked by Andy Kubert — frames the tension with real economy, Castle's skull emblem front and center as he advances, utterly unmoved. Interior work from writer Mike Baron and artist Mark Texeira promises "St. Paradine's" will be every bit as grim and gripping as that cover exchange suggests.