Preacher #31

Glenn Fabry's painted cover for Preacher #31 assembles a striking and unsettling cast: a smirking, dark-haired man takes center stage flanked by a red-haired woman in a bikini top, a hulking figure wearing an ankh necklace, a scarred and disfigured man behind them, and a pale, intense face looming large in the foreground — a group portrait radiating menace and dark charisma. Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's "Underworld" chapter promises exactly the kind of morally complex, street-level tension the Vertigo series built its reputation on through 1997. If you've been following this run, this November issue looks like another compelling chapter deep in the series' stride.