Irmina #[nn]

Barbara Yelin's Irmina announces itself with a cover that feels like a painting — a sun-dappled scene of a young woman and a man sharing a bicycle ride through what appears to be an English town, rendered in delicate watercolor washes of pale blue and grey. Below the title, that bright image is mirrored in dark reflection: the same tree, now skeletal, hovering over a shadowy cityscape that hints at a very different world beneath the surface charm. Yelin's art does remarkable work here, using a single divided image to suggest both lightness and foreboding, making this 2016 Soul Food Comics release feel genuinely compelling before you've even opened the cover.