Saga #22

Fiona Staples' cover for this 2014 chapter of Brian K. Vaughan's celebrated space-opera series centers on a horned woman seated in a large armchair, gripping a cane with quiet authority, while a red-toned woman in a heart-print shirt stands behind her — and an enormous walrus looms imposingly in the background. The composition has a slow-burn, character-study quality that Saga does so well, trading spectacle for the kind of charged, intimate tension that keeps readers turning pages. At $2.99, Chapter Twenty Two is another beautifully crafted installment from one of the most distinctive creative partnerships in modern comics.