Paradise X #3

Issue three of Marvel's Paradise X arrives with a breathtaking Alex Ross cover that pulls the eye upward through the soaring arches and rose window of a cathedral-like space, its grandeur underscored by a bold pink X of light cutting across the ceiling. Gathered within are a remarkable crowd of Marvel figures — winged beings perched on high ledges, a white-furred figure with round spectacles at left, armored and monstrous forms looming above, and at the center a tender moment of embrace between characters amid the sweeping red and white drapery below. Krueger, Braithwaite, and Reinhold bring the same epic, painterly ambition to the interior, making this 2002 series one of Marvel's most visually ambitious explorations of its alternate-universe mythology.