Reload #3

Warren Ellis's hard-edged action series reaches its third issue with a cover that puts two heavily armed figures center stage — a determined woman in black gripping a pair of pistols and a sharp-eyed man leveling a silenced handgun — all set against a backdrop of fire and billowing smoke that gives the whole scene a desperate, combustible energy. Paul Gulacy's pencils and inks deliver beautifully controlled tension, with spent shell casings frozen mid-air adding a kinetic immediacy to the standoff. If the first two issues left you wanting more of this gritty, mature-readers thriller from Homage Comics, issue three looks primed to deliver.