Three #5

A lone Spartan warrior — spear in hand, round shield raised, crested helmet gleaming white against an explosive burst of red and black — strides through what appears to be a narrow, jagged passage in this striking finale issue of Gillen and Kelly's ancient-world series. Ryan Kelly's stark, high-contrast cover art uses that bold crimson palette to tremendous effect, framing the solitary figure with an almost mythic sense of tension and isolation. If this is how Three closes out in 2014, the creative team is clearly swinging for something genuinely powerful.