Universe X #9

Issue #9 of Marvel's ambitious Universe X series brings together a striking crowd of transformed and troubled figures under that bold red X. Alex Ross's painted cover depicts the rocky orange form of the Thing (number 4 jersey prominent) lunging forward, while an older man and silver-haired woman clutch each other amid a press of strange companions — a werewolf, a rhino-headed figure, a being with an octopus-like head, a red-winged devil, and a brooding youth wearing a pentagram-marked jacket — all overseen by an unsettling gaunt figure looming from above. With Krueger, Braithwaite, and Reinhold handling the interiors, this 2001 Marvel series continues to weave an expansive, otherworldly vision of a Marvel Universe unlike any other.