The Black Hood #9

The masked vigilante known as the Black Hood looms against a blood-red background, surrounded by overlapping "MISSING" posters that seem to close in from every direction — a striking visual that captures the grim, street-level tone Duane Swierczynski and Greg Scott have built throughout this series. Francesco Francavilla's cover work is moody and assured, using stark contrasts and that unsettling flood of missing-persons notices to set the stage for Chapter Nine of "The Lonely Crusade." Dark Circle Comics continues to deliver the kind of crime-noir atmosphere in 2016 that earned this series its reputation as one of the more compelling masked-hero reads on the stands.