Heaven's Devils #2

A determined young woman in a tan jacket holds a smoking blade aloft, her expression steely as two looming faces — a grim, close-cropped man and a mustachioed figure in a pinstripe suit clutching a cocktail glass — dominate the shadowy background of this second issue from Image Comics. Zach Howard's cover work gives the composition a moody, noir-inflected tension that sets the tone for "I Stuck around St. Petersburg." With writer Jai Nitz and Howard collaborating on this 2003 series, Heaven's Devils #2 looks like a confident step deeper into a world where danger and moral ambiguity share the same crowded room.