Rani #6

The Dutch-language subtitle "Veroordeelde" — meaning "The Condemned" — sets a foreboding tone for this 2017 Le Lombard entry in Jean Van Hamme's Rani series. Francis Vallès's cover depicts four figures on a wooden scaffold against a twilight sky: a colonial officer in blue uniform, the dark-haired Rani herself clutching a crucifix staff, a hooded executioner bearing an axe, and chains laid across the platform's boards. It's a quietly charged composition that makes the stakes unmistakably clear before you've even opened the cover.