Metropolis #2

The second volume of Delcourt's Metropolis announces itself with a genuinely unsettling cover by Benjamin Carré: a colossal human skull half-buried in swirling dust and amber haze, its crown replaced by a gleaming, towering cityscape of steel spires that pierce the murk above. It's a single image that fuses the grandeur of modern architecture with something deeply macabre, setting a brooding, atmospheric tone for Serge Lehman's writing and Stéphane De Caneva's art within. If the 2014 French BD scene had you looking for science fiction with genuine visual ambition, this issue makes a compelling case for itself before you've even opened the cover.