Cruel Universe #7

Against a dramatic rural skyline, a towering plant-creature — its gnarled, bark-like body crowned by an enormous yellow flower with unsettling red-eyed stamens — looms over a lone figure whose torso erupts in a vivid burst of pink energy from the monster's glowing tendril strike. Mike Huddleston's cover for Cruel Universe #7 is a genuinely striking piece of work, balancing cosmic dread with an almost painterly warmth in the golden light washing across the farmland background. Greg Pak and David Lapham bring their talents to "Feature or Bug," and if this cover is any indication, the collision between the ordinary and the terrifyingly strange is very much on the menu.