Echolands #3

Part three of "Hope's Crucible" arrives in this 2021 Image series, and J. H. Williams III's panoramic cover makes an immediate impression — a white-haired figure in a sweeping red cloak fires a flaming weapon while tumbling through churning green waters, dwarfed by the massive scaled body of an enormous serpentine creature coiling around them. A second figure in dark garb falls nearby, and bold red geometric lines overlay the whole composition, giving it the feel of a target or a cosmic diagram. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman's Echolands consistently delivers visuals that feel genuinely unlike anything else on the shelf, and Dave Stewart's luminous color work here is no exception.