Freedom Force #5

Issue five of Image's Freedom Force brings the "Forbidden Fruit" story arc to a fever pitch with a cover that says it all — a sun-bronzed, flower-crowned figure declaring himself the God of Nature has a red-haired heroine named Eve entranced in his arms, while two imposing minotaur-like warriors loom in the foreground, horns gleaming and expressions menacing. The cover copy teases betrayal from within Freedom Force's own ranks, with Eve torn between loyalty and an apparent divine infatuation. Tom Scioli's bold, mythologically charged linework gives the whole scene a kinetic, larger-than-life energy that makes this 2005 Image release hard to put down before you've even cracked the cover.