Savage Dragon #185

Subtitled "The Verdict," this 2013 Image Comics chapter of Erik Larsen's long-running series carries real dramatic weight before you even open the cover. The stark, sketchy artwork — pencils and inks by Larsen himself — places a solitary, powerfully built figure in a pointed hat front and center, rendered in spare linework against a warm amber background, while a row of large, somber faces looms in blue tones along the left edge, watching. It's a quietly tense composition that makes judgment — and who's being judged — feel like it matters enormously.