Transmetropolitan #46

A giant yellow smiley face forms the backdrop for this striking 2001 Vertigo issue, where a pink-haired young woman — cigarette dangling from her lips and whip in hand — perches atop a tattooed, shaven-headed man who's been flipped upside down beneath her boots. A whiskey bottle, a glass, scattered pills, and a watchful white cat complete the scene on the ground below, suggesting a world that's equal parts chaotic and darkly comic. Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson's Transmetropolitan has always had a gift for covers that feel like a provocation, and J. G. Jones delivers exactly that here with wit and considerable style.