Blue Exorcist #19

Kazue Kato's long-running supernatural shonen series reaches its nineteenth volume with a cover that's equal parts elegant and unsettling. A smirking, purple-haired figure draped in a richly patterned kimono lounges with an almost theatrical ease, one hand raised to display an assortment of creeping creatures — snakes, lizards, a scorpion, an octopus tentacle, and a severed hand adorned with paper talismans — while moths and butterflies drift through the air around them. It's a striking 2017 image that captures Blue Exorcist's knack for weaving genuine menace into beautifully composed artwork.