Blue Estate #3

Viktor Kalvachev's darkly stylish cover for Blue Estate #3 frames a shirtless, gold-chained man seated on a zebra-print throne — presented like the main course on a gleaming white plate — while an enormous lion looms behind him and two massive hands grip jumper cables on either side. The whole image is dressed up as a restaurant menu for the "Blue Estate Chop House," with a "3 Course Special" promising Crushed Nuts, Sizzling Red Meat, and Uzbek Tartar, making the threat feel equal parts menacing and grimly funny. This 2011 Image series was already showing off its sharp, satirical edge, and "King of the Jungle" looks like exactly the kind of issue that rewards readers who like their crime fiction with a side of jet-black humor.