The Victories #2

Michael Avon Oeming's creator-owned Dark Horse series hits its second chapter with a cover that crackles with menace — a caped, bat-masked hero in deep crimson stands on a rooftop, fists blazing with energy, as a swarm of writhing figures gets hurled into a sickly green sky behind him. The stark two-tone palette and Oeming's bold linework give the whole image a raw, kinetic urgency that feels like superhero noir at its most visceral. "The Mark" promises the kind of morally complicated action that makes The Victories one of 2012's more intriguing additions to the genre.