Aphrodite IX #10

Stjepan Šejić's cover for issue #10 of this Top Cow/Image series stages a quietly haunting tableau: Aphrodite IX, her roman numeral tattoo clearly visible, cradles a damaged skull with an almost tender intensity while surrounded by a pile of other android bodies bearing their own numbered markings. The composition evokes something between a battlefield elegy and a Shakespearean moment of reflection, hinting at the weight this synthetic assassin carries in a world where identity and mortality blur together. Matt Hawkins and Šejić are delivering one of the more visually distinctive sci-fi series of 2014, and this cover alone makes a compelling case for catching up.