Marvels X #1

Alex Ross and Jim Krueger return to the Marvels universe with this opening chapter, and Ross's painted cover sets the mood beautifully — a grinning, green-faced figure in a yellow jacket leaps forward from within a giant crimson X, while behind her a crowd of distorted, anguished faces fills the shadowy background. The contrast between that unsettling smile and the suffering multitude surrounding her gives the image a quietly eerie tension that pulls you right in. With Well-Bee handling interior art duties, Marvels X #1 looks like a compelling new angle on Marvel's world seen through a very human — or not-so-human — lens.