Before Watchmen: Minutemen #3

Darwyn Cooke's cover for this third chapter of the six-issue Before Watchmen: Minutemen miniseries is a haunting, elegantly composed image — a wounded woman in dark clothing slumped and bleeding, her head thrown back in anguish, set against the warm glow of a stained-glass window depicting a robed figure. The yellow-and-black palette and the church setting lend the scene a stark, almost noir-sacred tension that feels wholly appropriate for a story subtitled "Child's Play." Cooke handles writing, art, and inks throughout, with Phil Noto's coloring giving the image its moody, expressionistic atmosphere.