The Spirit #7

Part of DC's First Wave initiative, this 2010 installment of Will Eisner's Spirit puts the masked hero in a deeply unsettling spotlight — a hypodermic needle loaded with vivid red liquid descends toward the Spirit's face as he stares out from beneath his trademark wide-brimmed hat and domino mask, helpless or perhaps defiant. Ladrönn's cover art is tightly framed and genuinely unnerving, pulling the eye straight to that gleaming syringe against the hero's cool, steady gaze. Writer David Hine and artist Moritat bring "Frost Bite: Part Four" to a head here, with a bonus Black & White Spirit backup feature by Jan Strnad and Richard Corben rounding out a packed issue.