American Virgin #8

Part four of the "Going Down" arc lands with a cover that's impossible to look away from — a young figure with dark, smeared makeup and a cross necklace, wearing a "Save" shirt, rendered in a wash of deep reds by cover artist Joshua Middleton that crackles with raw tension. The image perfectly captures the unsettling energy that Steven T. Seagle's writing and Becky Cloonan's interior art have made American Virgin one of Vertigo's most provocative ongoing series of 2006. With only one chapter remaining in this five-part story, this is a great moment to see where things stand.