The Multiversity: Pax Americana #1

Part of Grant Morrison's sprawling Multiversity project, Pax Americana #1 arrives with a cover by Frank Quitely that is as arresting as it is unusual — a close-up, almost biological mass of golden, smoldering forms that suggest both brain tissue and burning embers, framing the title against a bold red banner. A Delmore Schwartz quote — "Time is the school in which we learn, time is the fire in which we burn" — anchors the bottom of the cover, perfectly echoing the story title "In Which We Burn" and giving the whole package a literary weight rarely seen on a superhero comic. With Morrison writing and Quitely illustrating, colored by Nathan Fairbairn in scorched golds and whites, this 2015 one-shot announces itself as something genuinely distinct from the mainstream DC shelf.