The Shadow #4

Alex Ross's cover for this fourth chapter of "The Fire of Creation" is a striking triptych composition — a stern, sharp-eyed man in a white shirt (the Shadow's alter ego) anchors the right panel with a cigarette in hand, while the center strip thrusts a revolver barrel directly at the viewer amid a wash of amber flame, and the left panel swirls with shadowy figures and an ornate lantern hinting at the story's atmospheric underworld. Garth Ennis and Aaron Campbell's collaboration on this 2012 Dynamite series pairs pulp noir tension with genuine menace, and Ross's painted realism gives the whole package a cool, cinematic weight.