Scalped #42

Jason Aaron and R.M. Guéra's Scalped was one of Vertigo's most uncompromising crime series, and issue #42 brings the "Unwanted" arc to its conclusion with a cover by Jock that radiates dread. A figure whose head erupts in vivid orange flame looms over a second person clutching what appears to be an infant, the layered, gritty composition suggesting desperation and violence pressing in from every side. A smoldering cigarette stub burns down to nothing in the corner — a quietly devastating detail that feels entirely at home in this world of the Prairie Rose Indian Reservation.