Thor: Godstorm #2

The cover of this 2001 Marvel limited series pulls no punches: Thor lies seemingly overwhelmed, his red cape splayed and Mjolnir flung loose, as massive dark tendrils coil around him amid a storm of shattered debris and crumbling cityscape. It's a striking image of the Thunder God pushed to his limits, rendered with real painterly weight by Steve Rude. Kurt Busiek's story — "The Tale of the Mighty Thor and the Challenge of Torrent" — promises exactly the kind of mythic, hard-hitting conflict this cover so vividly sets up.