The Red Circle: The Hangman #1

Part of DC's 2009 Red Circle revival, this one-shot brings the brooding Hangman back under the pen of J. Michael Straczynski, with interior art by Tom Derenick inked by Bill Sienkiewicz. Jesús Saiz's cover sets a genuinely unsettling tone — a dark-caped, masked figure grips a thick noose with gloved fists, standing before a wooden gallows bathed in moonlight, bare twisted trees framing the scene against a smoldering orange sky. It's a striking image that makes clear this is a character defined by grim justice rather than easy heroism.