Doctor Strange #7

Part two of "The Last Days of Magic" arrives in this 2016 Marvel series, and the cover by Chris Bachalo and Tim Townsend makes an immediate, unsettling impression — a bald, battle-worn figure fills the entire frame, his face splattered with dark ink-like markings and his mouth torn open in a grotesque, bloody wound, with a glimpse of ornate gold fabric visible at his collar. The stark, high-contrast palette drains nearly all color except for those vivid crimson streaks, giving the image a visceral, almost ritualistic weight that suits a story about magic under siege. Jason Aaron's run on Doctor Strange has been building real momentum, and this chapter promises the kind of dark, consequential storytelling that the cover so effectively telegraphs.