Doctor Strange #5

The cover by Kevin Nowlan says it all — a battered, bloodied Doctor Strange, his Cloak of Levitation tattered and pooling at his feet, grips a gore-stained axe while cradling his injured hands, his expression one of grim, hard-won defiance. It's a portrait of the Sorcerer Supreme pushed well past his limits, rendered with striking detail that makes the title "Pound of Flesh" feel entirely apt. Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo's 2016 run continues to find compellingly human angles on Marvel's Master of the Mystic Arts.