Ultimate X-Men #81

Robert Kirkman continues his run on Ultimate X-Men with issue #81, "Cliffhangers," brought to life by artist Ben Oliver and colorist José Villarrubia. The cover, penciled by Yanick Paquette and inked by Serge LaPointe, presents an unsettling image: a figure in a lab coat dangling upside-down above a cluster of industrial machinery and glowing chemical apparatus, their expression strained and fist clenched — someone is clearly not having a good day in the lab. It's a tense, deliberately disorienting composition that promises the kind of suspenseful storytelling the "Cliffhangers" title boldly advertises.