Spike #4

Part four of "A Dark Place" arrives with a cover by Jenny Frison that pulls no punches — Spike, platinum-haired and intense, leans in close to a dark-haired woman in a sleek bodysuit, their faces nearly touching in a moment charged with unmistakable tension. Spinning out of the pages of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as part of Dark Horse's Season 9 line, this 2012 series continues to give the fan-favorite vampire a story that's very much his own. Victor Gischler's script and Paul Lee's interior art bring the penultimate chapter home, and Frison's moody, intimate cover sets the emotional stakes beautifully.