Scalped #27

Francesco Francavilla's interior work and Jock's striking cover combine to make this 2009 Vertigo entry in Jason Aaron's Scalped series a genuinely arresting package. The cover, by Jock, zeroes in on a fist thrusting forward an FBI badge — its Department of Justice lettering catching the light against a wash of fiery orange and red, while a suited, cigarette-smoking figure looms in silhouette to the left, blood spattering the lower half of the image. It's a tense, moody composition that sets the tone perfectly for part three of "The Ballad of Baylis Earl Nitz," a five-part arc clearly deep in the complicated world of law enforcement and reservation life that Aaron built this series upon.