The Department of Truth #17

Issue #17 of James Tynion IV and Jorge Fornés's unsettling Image series delivers another dose of conspiratorial dread, with a cover by Martin Simmonds that stops you cold — a close, painterly view of an astronaut helmet whose visor bears two bold red X marks in place of eyes, rendered in smoldering golds and deep crimson against a dark, textured background. It's the kind of image that sits somewhere between eerie folk symbol and cold government warning, perfectly in tune with a series built on the terrifying power of belief. Simmonds's raw, layered brushwork gives the whole thing a feeling of something both ancient and classified.