John Byrne's Next Men #5

John Byrne's Next Men returns in this 2011 IDW series with a cover that pulls no punches — a badly wounded, wild-eyed woman tears through the image's center like a figure breaking through reality itself, surrounded by a cast of alarmed and desperate faces: a blonde woman recoiling in horror, a woman in blue leveling a gun, a blindfolded young man, and a white-haired older man crying out. Byrne's linework (pencils and inks both his own) gives the composition a jagged, shattering energy that suggests multiple worlds — or timelines — colliding at once. Colorist Ronda Pattison's sharp palette keeps every panicked expression vivid, making this one of the more viscerally striking covers in the run.