Avengers Forever #9

Nine issues into this ambitious 12-part limited series, Avengers Forever takes a reflective turn with "Break: Reflections of the Conqueror," written by Kurt Busiek and Roger Stern. Carlos Pacheco and Jesús Merino's cover sets a striking, almost monumental tone — a purple-and-green-costumed Kang the Conqueror stands triumphant atop crumbling stone ruins, while two massive, weathered figures loom in the foreground like forgotten relics of collapsed empires. It's a haunting composition that suggests a story pulling back to examine the man behind the conquest, rendered with Pacheco and Merino's characteristically precise, sweeping linework.