New Mutants #24

Martin Simmonds turns a massive, gnarled tree into a surreal game board for this 2022 entry in Vita Ayala's run — several New Mutants, including a horned figure and a figure in Native American-influenced attire, scramble up wooden ladders across its branches while giant slide-like chutes send them careening back down, evoking a cosmic, high-stakes version of Snakes and Ladders. Looming in the canopy is a menacing mechanical creature built from intricate golden circuitry, its glowing core hinting at the threat facing the team. It's a striking, imaginative cover that frames "What Is Deserved" as a story where progress and setback are inescapably intertwined.