Carnage #3

Issue three of five in this 2011 Marvel limited series finds Carnage at the violent center of a harrowing three-way confrontation, with the symbiote looming large and menacing as crimson tendrils lash out to ensnare both Iron Man — his gold-and-red armor visibly compromised — and Spider-Man, whose wide-eyed mask is thrust toward the viewer in the foreground. Clayton Crain's painted cover work gives the scene a visceral, almost cinematic tension, bathing the whole composition in deep reds that make it hard to tell where the symbiote ends and the heroes begin. With Zeb Wells scripting and Crain handling art, inks, and colors throughout, this series has been delivering a consistently striking aesthetic alongside what the cover promises is escalating chaos.