Mauro Caldi #5

The fifth chapter of Denis Lapière and Michel Constant's Belgian crime series lands with a cover that crackles with tension — a red sports car sits amid Pennzoil drums and Pirelli signage as flames tear through a building in the background, while a suited gunman takes aim and a young man crouches low beside a dark-haired woman, clutching what appears to be a weapon of his own. "De oorlog van de families" — "The War of the Families" — promises exactly the kind of gangland confrontation the title suggests, rendered in Constant's clean, expressive linework. At 14,95 EUR, this 2015 Strip2000 release is a stylish entry in a series that wears its crime-thriller heart proudly on its sleeve.