Thunderbolts #123

Thunderbolts #123 ties into Marvel's 2008 Secret Invasion event, and the cover by Billy Tan delivers an arresting image: a monstrous, armor-clad Skrull warrior — bearing the Thunderbolts lightning-bolt insignia — charges forward with a snarling green face and fist raised, while gripping a very unhappy Venom in its other hand against the backdrop of the Washington Monument. Writer Christos N. Gage and artist Fernando Blanco bring "Running the Asylum Part 2" to life, promising the kind of chaotic, high-stakes tension that comes when Marvel's most dangerous team of reformed villains collides with an alien invasion. If you've been following Secret Invasion, this is one tie-in that looks anything but peripheral.