The Fade Out #9

Sean Phillips's cover for The Fade Out #9 delivers a jolt of raw desperation: a man in a rumpled suit screams with unhinged fury, clutching a liquor bottle while a long streak of crimson blood trails down beside him — the kind of image that distills Hollywood noir down to its ugliest truth. Ed Brubaker and Phillips continue their celebrated partnership here, with Elizabeth Breitweiser's coloring giving the stark white background an almost clinical coldness that makes the violence and whiskey all the more vivid. If you've been following this 2015 noir masterwork, issue nine promises to keep the tension wound tight.