The Spirit #29

This 2009 DC installment of Will Eisner's The Spirit presents a wonderfully tense urban tableau: the masked crimefighter in his signature blue suit and fedora stands on a city train platform stairway, watchful and coiled, while a blonde woman in pink ahead of him seems unaware of the purple-gloved hand below clutching a clock-rigged device — a bomb threat hiding in plain sight. Paul Rivoche's clean, expressive linework captures the bustling metropolitan atmosphere beautifully, with scattered papers, rumbling transit vehicles, and a skyline of skyscrapers lending the scene real depth. Writer Dean Motter teams with Rivoche on "Needles & Pinski," promising the kind of street-level intrigue that makes The Spirit such a satisfying read.