Descender #21

Dustin Nguyen's delicate watercolor work is on full display in this fifth and final chapter of "Orbital Mechanics," assembling the cast of Descender in a striking composite portrait. The cover brings together a determined red-clad figure at center, a wide-eyed young boy, a menacing armored robot wielding a heavy weapon, a green-eyed figure with a mechanical arm, a pale masked robot, and the small, rounded companion droid TIM-21 at the foreground — the full ensemble rendered in Nguyen's signature fluid brushwork against swirling blacks and crimsons. Jeff Lemire and Nguyen's sci-fi saga hits an arc conclusion here, and the weight of that moment feels earned in every face staring back at you from this cover.