Fury Max #12

The final issue of Garth Ennis, Goran Parlov, and Lee Loughridge's unflinching Marvel MAX series closes with a cover by Dave Johnson that says everything without a word: a scarred, battle-worn face looming large above a small, solitary figure in a red shirt clutching a rifle, the American flag dissolving into cracked, blood-red tendrils that spread across the image like fault lines. It's a striking visual meditation on the cost of a lifetime spent at war, perfectly suited to a story titled "Before Man Was, War Waited." A fitting, sobering send-off for one of Marvel's most mature and hard-edged series.