Chantages #1

Ardem's Chantages Tome 1 opens with a cover that sets a charged, noir-tinged mood — a red-haired woman, partially undressed and wearing a purple lace bra, is caught in a tense moment as unseen hands grip her hair and shoulder with unmistakable menace. The green fabric draped around her and her wide-eyed, open-mouthed expression convey a sense of vulnerability and dramatic confrontation. Published by Dynamite in 2011, this French-language volume promises the kind of shadowy intrigue and raw tension that the title Chantages — "Blackmail" — so pointedly suggests.