Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Circus of the Damned #3

A gut-wrenching image anchors this 2012 installment of Marvel's adaptation of Laurell K. Hamilton's *Circus of the Damned* — a muscular man in a green X-marked shirt cradles a gravely wounded dark-haired woman against a backdrop of crimson splatter, her injuries rendered in unflinching detail by cover artist Brett Booth. The raw emotional weight of the composition makes it hard to look away, balancing tenderness and violence in equal measure. With Hamilton and Jess Ruffner-Booth scripting and Ron Lim bringing the interior pages to life, this series continues to deliver Hamilton's supernatural world with real dramatic conviction.