Criminal #9

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips's Criminal has long been the gold standard for crime comics, and issue #9 — "Cruel Summer Part Five" — keeps that momentum going strong. Sean Phillips's cover is a moody, neon-drenched composition: a brooding man's oversized face looms over a city skyline, rendered in striking pink and blue, while two younger figures sprint across the foreground — one clutching a gun — against that same electric palette. It's a tense, cinematic image that captures everything Crime noir fans love about this series.