Spawn #240

Spawn #240 delivers a genuinely striking confrontation on its cover, with the white-masked, cape-and-chain-wielding Hellspawn looming menacingly toward a wild-haired, heavy-set figure in a long coat who appears to be disintegrating or recoiling mid-air in a haze of smoke. The atmosphere is moody and gothic, with bare twisted branches framing the scene and a palette of cool grays that makes Spawn's dark crimson cape and spiked gauntlet pop. A fine entry from Image's long-running series, this 2014 issue promises the kind of brooding supernatural tension that has kept Spawn a standout on comic racks for decades.