The Spirit #30

Kevin Nowlan's cover for issue #30 delivers a striking double image: a full-color Spirit — masked, red-tied, mid-stride through a rain-soaked city street past a hotel sign and scattered newspapers — rendered small against the vast, cool monochrome face of a mysterious suited figure looming behind him, hat brim cutting across the composition. The contrast in scale gives the whole thing a wonderfully ominous mood, suggesting the Spirit may be unknowingly walking in someone else's shadow. Writer-artist Michael Avon Oeming brings his distinct sensibility to a story promising citywide chaos as Yakuza and Triad forces clash across Central City.