Halo: Escalation #11

The cover of Halo: Escalation #11 pulls you straight into close-quarters combat, with a Spartan in full blue-gray armor raising a blade overhead to strike a snarling, reptilian alien — likely a Sangheili — whose glowing yellow eye and bared fangs radiate menace as a burst of luminous energy crackles between them. Anthony Palumbo's cover art captures that tense, physical intensity the Halo universe does so well, rendered in deep blues and vivid violet light that give the scene a cinematic charge. With a creative team including writer Duffy Boudreau and artists Douglas Franchin and Ricardo Sánchez, this 2014 Dark Horse entry in the Escalation series looks like a compelling chapter in the franchise's ongoing comic legacy.