Mystique by Sean McKeever Ultimate Collection #[nn]

Mystique takes center stage on Mike Mayhew's striking cover, her blue skin and black leather ensemble impossible to miss as she strides across a black-and-white checkered floor — a figure prone at her feet, a suited gunman to her left, and a looming oversized red hand reaching down from above like a puppet master pulling strings. The chessboard setting and the scattered figures around her say everything about where Mystique lives: at the dangerous intersection of manipulation and survival. This 2011 Marvel collection is a handsome way to experience her solo adventures, with Mayhew's painted cover setting a suitably sleek and tense tone.