Alice in Murderland #9

Kaori Yuki's dark fairy-tale series reaches its ninth volume with a cover that captures the series' unsettling elegance perfectly — a wide-eyed blonde girl in a frilled maid-style dress grips a handgun with trembling urgency, while a sharp-smiled redhead in matching white ruffles looms behind her with gleaming red eyes. The contrast between the delicate lace costuming and the unmistakable threat of violence is exactly the kind of beautiful tension that has made *Alice in Murderland* so compelling. If you've been following this series, volume 9 looks like a striking continuation of that stylish, deadly aesthetic.