Alias #24

Issue #24 kicks off "Purple Part 1," the final arc of Marvel's MAX series Alias, with a cover by David Mack that's as haunting as anything in the run — a pair of pale, watchful eyes emerging from a swirling abstract field of violet and purple paint, suggesting a face half-submerged, half-revealed. The painterly texture gives it the feel of something buried trying to surface, perfectly in tune with the psychological weight Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos brought to this series. If you've followed Jessica Jones this far, this opener promises the kind of unsettling, character-driven storytelling that made Alias one of Marvel's most distinctive books of 2003.