Northlanders #14

Part four of "The Cross + The Hammer" arrives with a striking Massimo Carnevale cover that dominates the eye: a heavily tattooed, bloodied fist thrusts skyward clutching an eagle-headed staff, while a mass of armed warriors — shields, spears, and raised fists stretching to the horizon — surges in the background. The cool, desaturated blues of the crowd throw the warm flesh tones and vivid crimson of that central arm into sharp, visceral relief. Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly's Viking-era Vertigo series was doing some of its most confident work in 2009, and this image captures exactly the kind of brutal, mythic tension the arc promises.