Punisher: Soviet #4

Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows's Punisher: Soviet keeps its cold-war-tinged tension building in this fourth chapter, subtitled "A Girl With the Heart as Big as the Sky." Paolo Rivera's cover art frames Frank Castle — rifle in hand, skull emblem front and center — as a brooding, dominant presence, while behind him a blonde woman in a white coat raises her hands in surrender and a crouching figure lurks below, with military helicopters cutting through a blood-red sky in the distance. It's a striking composition that balances menace and mystery, and with Nolan Woodard's muted palette lending everything a distinctly grim atmosphere, this MAX Comics installment feels like essential reading for fans of Ennis's no-nonsense take on the Punisher.