The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen #5

Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's celebrated America's Best Comics series reaches its penultimate Volume Two chapter with this tension-laden installment subtitled "Red in Tooth and Claw." O'Neill's cover draws the eye immediately to an elderly, white-haired gentleman and a wide-eyed young woman pressed together against a tree in a dense, shadowy forest — a looming blue figure lurks at the left edge while an elephant stands calmly in the background, lending the scene an eerie, jungle-set unease. It's a beautifully composed image that balances dread and mystery, a fitting mood-setter for one of comics' most inventively literary adventure series.