Altaïr #21

Volume 21 of Kotono Katō's Altaïr arrives with a cover that's as striking as the series itself — a elegantly dressed warrior figure in ornate gold-and-black armor poses confidently amid a cascade of white roses, bow in hand and feathered arrows at the ready. The intricate detail of the costume, the single red rose at center, and the climbing floral vines give the whole composition a beautifully theatrical tension between beauty and battle. If you've been following this sweeping military fantasy, 2019's penultimate stretch of the series is unmistakably building toward something grand.