Cage #3

Marvel's MAX imprint brings its mature-readers sensibility to full effect in Cage #3 (2002), written by Brian Azzarello with art and cover by Richard Corben. The cover presents a striking close-up of a powerfully built torso — hands gripping with quiet menace, a beaded necklace at the neck, the series title rendered in bold red lettering across the chest — rendered in Corben's distinctive cool blue-green palette that feels both stylized and raw. It's an arresting image that makes clear this Luke Cage story is operating in grittier territory than mainstream Marvel fare.