Elephantmen #52

Part of the long-running "Picking Up the Pieces" arc, Elephantmen #52 continues Richard Starkings and Axel Medellin's pulp science-fiction saga with the chapter titled "House of Pain." Boo Cook's cover art — rendered from a striking overhead perspective — shows a wounded young woman sprawled on a blood-streaked floor while a grim, cybernetically augmented man crouches over her, weapon in hand, the massive limb of one of the series' hulking Elephantmen looming at the edge of the frame. It's a tense, noir-drenched image that captures exactly the kind of hard-edged drama that has made this Image series one of the more distinctive genre books of 2013.