Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril #3

Midway through this six-issue Vertigo miniseries, "The New Egyptian Book of the Dead" finds Tom Strong front and center on a cover by Chris Sprouse and Karl Story — red-shirted, goggled, and alert, with a soaring bald eagle sweeping dramatically overhead against a golden, pyramid-like backdrop. Ghostly figures loom in the background — a stern woman, a flame-wreathed figure, and an Egyptian-motif card hinting at ancient mysteries — framing Strong as a man surrounded by forces both mythic and dangerous. Peter Hogan's script and Sprouse's clean, assured linework make this 2013 series a genuinely satisfying blend of pulp adventure and imaginative world-building.