Ultimate X-Men #92

Part three of Robert Kirkman's four-part "Apocalypse" arc arrives with a cover by Salvador Larroca that puts two imposing figures back-to-back in a tense, fiery standoff — a helmeted, red-caped figure whose glowing eyes radiate menace on the left, and a heavily armed, mechanized warrior bristling with weaponry on the right. The contrast between the cloaked and the cybernetic makes for a striking visual tension that suggests very different kinds of power about to collide. With Paul Mounts' color work bathing the scene in smoldering amber, this 2008 penultimate chapter carries real dramatic weight heading into the finale.