East of West #42

A saddled, tusked wild boar strides purposefully across the cover of this April 2019 entry in Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta's sprawling alternate-history epic — a deceptively quiet image rendered in cool blue-grey tones that perfectly captures the series' knack for finding menace in unexpected places. The issue's tagline reminds readers that this is a world humanity made for itself, broken and beyond repair, setting a fittingly ominous mood for "Into the Valley." Dragotta's precise linework gives the beast a weighty, almost mythic presence, and with Frank Martin's restrained palette pulling everything together, this is the kind of cover that rewards a long look.