Ringside #10

From writer Joe Keatinge and artist Nick Barber, this tenth issue of Image's gritty wrestling drama sets a tense mood right from the cover: a broad-shouldered figure stands with his back to us, facing two wary men — one shaved-headed in a white tank, the other long-haired and hardened — framed by the ropes of a wrestling ring bathed in warm spotlight. Below that charged confrontation, a small building burns in the dark night, flames licking its walls while a lone figure lies motionless nearby. Simon Gough's coloring and Ariana Maher's lettering complete a cover that promises the human cost of life in and around the ring hasn't gotten any lighter by issue ten.