Elephantmen #18

The cover of Elephantmen #18 — subtitled "Fertility Rites" — offers a hauntingly delicate image: a dark-haired woman lies prone on a tiled floor at the base of a massive, brooding hippo-headed statue, her legs draped across its stone lap in a pose that mingles vulnerability with quiet intimacy. Churchland's watercolor-tinged artwork gives the scene an almost dreamlike stillness, the pale palette contrasting beautifully with the bold red of the series logo. It's a quietly arresting cover from this mature Image series, and a fine reason to seek out this 2009 chapter of Starkings and Churchland's ambitious saga.