Kill or Be Killed #9

The painted cover of issue #9 pulls you in immediately — a figure in a dark hoodie reaches up to pull a crimson mask over his face, rendered in Sean Phillips's richly textured style with Elizabeth Breitweiser's warm, luminous palette giving the moment an almost unsettling intimacy. Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, and Elizabeth Breitweiser's Eisner-nominated series continues to earn its reputation as one of 2017's most gripping crime titles. If you've been following this dark, morally complicated ride, number nine looks like another essential chapter.