Automatic Kafka #6

Ashley Wood's painted cover for Automatic Kafka #6 (2003) is all moody atmosphere and confident provocation — a dark-haired woman in a sleek black strapless dress commands the composition, her expression caught mid-word and her posture radiating self-possession. The cover copy teases her as "Helen of Troy," an "ex-Stranger" and a "sexxxed up superhero" who is decidedly "not one to take home to mother," setting the tone for Joe Casey's mature-readers series perfectly. With Wood handling pencils, inks, and colors throughout, this WildStorm title continues to feel like no other superhero comic on the stands in 2003.