Manifest Destiny #10

Matthew Roberts delivers a visceral, unsettling close-up for this tenth issue of Image's frontier horror series — a battered, bloodied figure pulls a wide-brimmed hat low over a face covered in wounds and flies, conveying the brutal toll the American wilderness exacts on those who dare cross it. The muted yellows and worn earth tones from colorist Owen Gieni give the image a sun-bleached, suffocating quality that perfectly suits Chris Dingess's vision of westward expansion as something far more harrowing than history books suggest. If this cover is any indication, Manifest Destiny continues to earn its place among 2014's most grimly compelling ongoing series.