Alias #26

The penultimate chapter of "Purple" arrives with one of the most arresting covers of 2003 — a painterly, mixed-media close-up of a woman's face rendered in warm golds and pinks, layered with handwritten text, newsprint fragments, and the haunting word "feel" scrawled near her lips. Cover artist David Mack's collage-style composition gives the issue an intimate, almost confessional quality, with that single expressive eye holding your gaze with quiet intensity. Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos's MAX Comics series continues to push the boundaries of what superhero storytelling can look like, and this issue's cover alone makes a compelling case for picking it up.