Faster Than Light #5

Issue five of Brian Haberlin's Faster Than Light arrives at a striking visual moment: a lone astronaut stands head bowed, one gloved hand pressed to their helmet visor, as a massive structure explodes in a fiery cascade of red and gold behind them in the deep starfield. The image is painted with real weight — that solitary figure dwarfed by catastrophe conveys both the vastness of space and something deeply personal about "First Steps Part 5." Haberlin's painted cover work gives this Shadowline/Image series a cinematic sweep that makes it one of the more visually ambitious sci-fi books on shelves in 2016.