Bloodhound #1

The crime-fiction energy of Bloodhound: Brass Knuckle Psychology announces itself immediately — police tape for a logo, a chalk body outline bleeding on the pavement, and a hulking, collar-wearing figure dangling a broken pair of handcuffs at the center of it all. Flanking him are a wide-eyed blonde woman and a young girl clutching a stuffed animal, with an armed figure lurking at the edge, while bold FBI lettering grounds the whole composition in gritty procedural territory. Dan Jolley, Leonard Kirk, and Robin Riggs deliver what Warren Ellis himself calls "four-color crime and punishment like they just don't make anymore" — and this 2013 Dark Horse collection, with a foreword by Kurt Busiek, makes a compelling case that he's right.