Fairest #23

Vertigo's Fairest #23 brings Marc Andreyko and Shawn McManus together for the third chapter of "Of Men and Mice," and Adam Hughes delivers a striking cover rendered in warm golds and cool greens. The design layers silhouettes of a woman holding a gun, a crowned rat, and a crouching figure amid elegantly circled lettering — an arresting visual that feels simultaneously fairy-tale and noir. It's a genuinely compelling 2014 entry in this mature-readers Fables spin-off that puts its female characters front and center.