The Cross Bronx #3

The penultimate chapter of this 2006 Image crime series arrives with a cover that pulls you straight into the vertigo of urban danger — a blue-clad figure tumbles through the narrow gap between two towering tenement buildings, gun in one hand and a syringe clutched against their body, fire escapes looming in the dark on either side. Michael Avon Oeming's cover art captures that queasy, off-kilter energy perfectly, with the figure's fiery hair and a burst of flame above adding a vivid flash of warmth against the deep crimson background. Ed Brubaker's blurb — "Crime comics are back in full force" — says it plainly, and with Brandon and Oeming collaborating, The Cross Bronx makes a convincing case.