Scalped #40

Jason Aaron and R.M. Guéra's Scalped was already one of Vertigo's most unflinching crime series by 2010, and issue #40 — "Unwanted, Part Two" — makes that clear before you even open the cover. Jock's cover art pulls no punches: a battered, bloodied bald man lurches forward, his face contorted in anguish, insects crawling across his wounded skin against a sickly neon-yellow and black backdrop. It's a viscerally unsettling image that perfectly captures the raw, desperate tone this series has always worn so well.