Transmetropolitan #27

Two sharply dressed women dominate this Jim Lee cover for Transmetropolitan #27 — one cool and watchful in black, the other smaller, glasses-wearing, cigarette dangling from her lips and a handgun leveled forward, both set against a vivid orange backdrop crowded with ghostly repeated faces. Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson's Vertigo series was already pushing boundaries in 1999, and this "Monstering!" issue captures the series' blend of attitude and urban tension in a single charged image. It's a compelling snapshot of two figures who look entirely capable of handling whatever the City throws at them.