Ultimate X-Men #90

Two pale, ghostly hands reach toward each other against a stormy sky — one rising from the earth near a moss-covered gravestone, the other descending from above — in a haunting image that sets a suitably somber tone for "Apocalypse Part 1 of 4." Robert Kirkman opens this four-part arc with Salvador Larroca and colorist Stephane Peru delivering a cover that feels more like a quiet elegy than a battle cry, which makes it all the more unsettling. If this opening chapter's mood matches its striking cover, 2008 readers were in for something genuinely affecting.