Heavy Liquid #5

The penultimate chapter of Paul Pope's noir sci-fi series gives way to its finale here — issue five of five — with a cover that radiates kinetic unease: a silver-haired figure in a dark suit and red accessories writhes against a flat blue field, luminous green tendrils of what must be the titular substance coiling around him like something alive. The bottom of the cover is designed as a stamped, bureaucratic boarding pass marked "SCRAMJET/BOARDING" and "RECALL — NON-REDEEMABLE," complete with a small inked portrait, lending the whole package a wonderfully strange, in-world authenticity. Pope's bold, gestural linework — all scratchy momentum and graphic confidence — makes this 2000 Vertigo release feel like no other comic on the shelf.