Agent X #2

Part two of "Dead Man's Switch" arrives with a striking cover from Alvin Lee and Rob Ross of Udon Studios: a heavily armed figure in tactical gear looms beneath an enormous Punisher skull emblem, while a blonde woman in a cowboy hat crouches in the foreground cradling an assault rifle, grenades scattered at her feet. The composition has a sharp, manga-influenced energy that fits right in with 2002 Marvel's appetite for kinetic action art. Gail Simone's run on this series was already turning heads, and this issue's cover makes a compelling case for picking it up.