Vanguard #6

Vanguard surges straight at the reader on this 1994 Image cover, his blue-skinned, massively muscled frame propelled forward by rocket-powered boots trailing exhaust, his white-masked face locked in a fierce snarl and his red-gloved fists ready for impact. Andy Smith's pencils and Randy Elliott's inks give the alien powerhouse a raw, kinetic energy that practically leaps off the page. It's a confident, in-your-face showcase for one of Image's more distinctive heavy hitters at the height of the early-'90s comics boom.