Blacksad #5

Juanjo Guarnido's cover for Blacksad #5 — "Amarillo" — is a sun-drenched open-road painting that practically hums with motion: the black cat detective himself rides shotgun in a gleaming yellow Cadillac convertible, top down, as endless golden fields stretch to the horizon under a wide, cloud-streaked sky. The whole composition is saturated in amber and chrome, a mood piece as much as a cover, with writer Juan Díaz Canales and Guarnido steering their anthropomorphic noir series into what feels like distinctly American heartland territory. It's a beautifully composed 2013 entry in one of European comics' most visually assured series.