Five Ghosts #9

Five Ghosts #9 continues the "Lost Coastlines" arc with its third chapter, and Chris Mooneyham's cover sets a pulpy, kinetic tone — a determined hero locks up in a brutal grapple with a hulking, snarling brute aboard what appears to be a sailing ship, rigging and ropes framing the struggle all around them. A bare-chested, bearded figure looms in the background, while a strip along the bottom previews several supporting characters, including a Sherlock Holmes-style silhouette in a compass medallion. Frank J. Barbiere and Mooneyham craft the kind of swashbuckling, adventure-serial energy that feels right at home in Image's catalog, and Lauren Affe's warm, weathered color palette gives the whole thing a sun-bleached, classic pulp illustration quality.