Alias #27

The penultimate chapter of "Purple" arrives in this haunting issue of Marvel's MAX series, with a cover by David Mack that is as unsettling as it is beautiful. A suited figure throws his head back with arms raised, the chilling words "my words are your command" ghosted across the composition, while a trapped woman's face is rendered on what appears to be a restraint across his chest — a quietly powerful image of control and captivity. Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos bring their gritty, noir-soaked sensibility to this mature-readers title, and Mack's painterly mixed-media cover sets an appropriately ominous tone for the arc's fourth installment.