Agent X #8

The cover of Agent X #8 sets a brooding, film-noir mood: a heavily scarred, bald mercenary slouches at a bar, gripping a liquor bottle while two handguns and a couple of shot glasses sit on the counter before him, as a dark-haired woman with a long braid leans over him with an almost tender possessiveness. It's a quiet, character-driven image — penciled and inked by Alvin Lee and Rob Ross of Udon Studios — that suggests tension simmering just beneath the surface calm. "Hold That Ghost Part 1 of 2" promises the kind of gritty Marvel storytelling that made this series a fun, off-kilter corner of the early 2000s universe.