Animal Man #3

Part of DC's New 52 relaunch, Animal Man #3 from January 2012 brings Jeff Lemire and Travel Foreman's vision of Buddy Baker to unsettling life. Foreman's cover depicts Animal Man mid-flight, his body grotesquely transformed — a bestial, leonine face snarling above clawed hands, massive wings spread wide against a blood-red and black backdrop — perfectly capturing the tagline's promise of "a strange man on a stranger journey." It's a visceral, beautifully rendered image that signals this series has no intention of playing it safe.