Criminal the Last of the Innocent #2

The second chapter of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips's Criminal: The Last of the Innocent arrives with a cover that pulls no punches — a dark, looming figure stands over a woman lying amid a spreading bloom of crimson, her expression unsettlingly calm against the chaos around her. Phillips's painterly cover work renders the scene in moody blues and stark reds, creating an atmosphere of dread and complicity that feels thoroughly noir. At $3.50 from Icon's 2011 lineup, this is crime comics storytelling that wears its menace right on its sleeve.