The Bozz Chronicles #5

High above a Victorian cityscape, a figure in formal black attire is caught in a web of crimson energy beams fired from a hot-air balloon whose basket holds a menacing, goggled passenger — it's a wonderfully strange tableau that captures The Bozz Chronicles' signature blend of gaslit adventure and science-fiction oddity. Bret Blevins's cover artwork gives the whole scene a painterly, atmospheric quality that feels right at home in Marvel's Epic Comics line of 1986. If "The Cobblestone Jungle" is half as inventive as this aerial confrontation suggests, issue #5 is a thoroughly satisfying stop in this underappreciated series.