The Fade Out #12

The finale of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips's noir serial arrives with a cover that speaks volumes in near-silence: a pale, ghostly portrait of a blonde woman rendered almost entirely in shades of grey, her gaze steady and melancholy, while a vivid streak of deep crimson drips down the left side like a wound against the washed-out image. It's a haunting composition that captures everything The Fade Out has always done so well — beauty and darkness in uneasy balance, Hollywood glamour shadowed by something far more sinister. Twelve issues in, this series has been one of 2016's most atmospheric crime comics, and this closing chapter promises a fittingly elegant conclusion.