The Punisher #9

Part of Nathan Edmondson and Mitch Gerads's gritty 2014 run, this issue carries the intriguing story title "Friend From Foe" — a promise of blurred loyalties and uneasy alliances. Gerads's cover is striking in its stark simplicity: a blood-red field frames the Punisher's imposing, slightly out-of-focus silhouette, skull emblem glowing on his chest, while a sharply rendered black widow spider hangs in a web directly in the foreground, commanding your attention. It's a quietly menacing image that lets the symbolism do all the talking.