Shatterstar #5

The finale of Tim Seeley's five-issue series arrives with a cover that carries real emotional weight — a blue-skinned Shatterstar cradling an unconscious blond figure amid billowing clouds, a shattered energy disc glowing behind him and a sword still loosely gripped in the other figure's hand. It's a strikingly tender image for a warrior whose entire identity is built around combat, rendered with expressive warmth by Villa, Sandoval, Vlasco, and Lopez. A fitting capstone to one of Marvel's more unexpected character studies of 2019.