American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #2

Sean Murphy's cover for this second chapter of the five-part miniseries sets a tense, espionage-tinged mood: a well-dressed blonde woman clutching a pistol and handbag stands close to a man in a white tuxedo jacket, the two of them caught between shadowy threats — a snarling vampiric face looming large in the background and a burning aircraft streaking across a stormy sky above a mountain range. Lurking figures crowd the edges of the composition, and a mysterious suited man watches from the far right, suggesting danger closing in from every direction. Scott Snyder and Murphy's Survival of the Fittest clearly has no shortage of high-stakes atmosphere, and this 2011 Vertigo installment makes a compelling case for the story unfolding within.