Thunderbolts #114

Part of Marvel's 2007 "The Initiative" era, Thunderbolts #114 continues Warren Ellis and Mike Deodato Jr.'s "Faith in Monsters" arc with a cover by Marko Djurdjević that pulls no punches — a black-suited figure is locked in a brutal mid-air collision with a spiked, armored opponent clad in dark red, the two combatants tangled together in a visceral, kinetic struggle. Djurdjević's painterly rendering gives the scene a raw, almost cinematic weight that perfectly suits this team of morally compromised heroes operating under government sanction. If you've been following Ellis's sharp, unsettling take on the Thunderbolts, this issue's cover alone signals that the tension is far from cooling down.