100 Bullets #11

Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso's Vertigo crime series reaches its eleventh volume with *Once Upon a Crime*, and Dave Johnson and Risso's cover sets the mood perfectly — a looming black silhouette clutches a briefcase over a blood-red splash, while a cast of hard-edged faces (a gunman, two intense women, a rose, and more) swirl beneath like fragments of intersecting schemes. It's a striking image that captures the series' signature blend of noir atmosphere and morally complicated characters. With an introduction by Tom Fontana (*Oz*, *Homicide: Life on the Street*), this 2007 Vertigo collection is a compelling entry point into one of crime comics' most richly layered worlds.