Alone #5

The fifth volume of Gazzotti and Vehlmann's unsettling children-in-peril series delivers one of its most arresting cover images yet: a small red-haired boy clutches a bloodied knife in one hand and a worn stuffed rabbit in the other, standing alone in a tiny circle of white light as a swirling black void closes in around him. The contrast between childhood innocence — sneakers, a beloved toy — and the grim reality suggested by those red-stained drops at his feet captures everything that makes Alone such a compelling read. "Eye of the Maelstrom" promises the series at its most intense, and Bruno Gazzotti's expressive linework makes it impossible to look away.