Manifest Destiny #9

Manifest Destiny's ninth issue offers one of the more unsettling still-life covers of 2014 — a large, richly patterned butterfly specimen pinned to a worn wooden surface, its striking eyespot wings spread wide alongside scattered nails, a flintlock pistol, and a small folding knife. Matthew Roberts renders every vein and marking of the creature with meticulous detail, and Owen Gieni's warm, earthy palette gives the whole image the feel of a naturalist's field study gone slightly wrong. Chris Dingess and Roberts continue their monster-haunted reimagining of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and this cover quietly promises that the frontier's strange wildlife remains very much at the heart of the series.