Red #2

Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner's RED barrels into its second issue with a cover that tells its own kinetic story across three stacked panels — a bald, hard-faced man in a dark suit braces against armed pursuers, fights through a barred interior, and finally launches himself gun-first through a shattering window in a cascade of broken glass. Hamner's cover art gives the whole sequence a tense, golden-lit atmosphere that feels like a cold-war thriller turned up several notches. If issue one left you curious about this Homage/WildStorm series, this October 2003 installment makes a strong visual case for seeing it through.