George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones #13

Dynamite's faithful comics adaptation of George R. R. Martin's landmark fantasy novel reaches its thirteenth issue, and the cover by Mike S. Miller sets an immediately tense mood: two white-armored knights — one helmeted with golden accents, the other wearing a pale, almost featureless great helm — advance with drawn swords across a grassy field beneath a blood-red sky, while a downed armored figure lies in the foreground and a stone tower looms behind them. The scene practically radiates the high-stakes chivalric conflict that runs through Martin's world, where gleaming armor is no guarantee of mercy. With Daniel Abraham and Tommy Patterson continuing to translate the source material panel by panel, this 2013 issue is a solid entry in one of comics' most ambitious literary adaptations.