Ultimate X-Men #98

Part of Marvel's 2009 Ultimatum crossover event, this issue opens the three-part story arc with an immediately arresting cover by Mark Brooks: a young woman — wide-eyed and gasping — barely keeps her head above churning floodwaters while a golden, liquid-metal hand reaches up from below the surface. The image captures pure desperation and dread in a single frame, with Brooks's painted rendering giving the water a heavy, almost suffocating weight. Aron E. Coleite's script, brought to life by Brooks, Karl Story, and colorist Edgar Delgado, promises high stakes from the very first page.