Mage, Book Three: The Hero Denied #14

The penultimate issue of Matt Wagner's long-awaited third Mage volume arrives with a cover that says everything through one face — Kevin Matchstick's jaw set hard, blue eyes blazing, sweat-slicked skin crackling with arcs of lightning as a brilliant white light cuts across him from below. It's an image of someone pushed to an absolute edge, every line of Wagner's detailed inking conveying both exhaustion and fierce resolve. With a chapter title drawn from Shakespeare and only one issue left in The Hero Denied, this December 2018 installment feels like a storm finally breaking.