Brave Story - A Retelling of a Classic #16

The sixteenth volume of this manga adaptation brings a striking image to the fore: a pale, elaborately adorned figure in ornate golden armor dominates the cover, flanked by great sweeping wings and a sinuous dragon rendered in intricate detail below. The overall composition, in cool whites and golds against a stark background, has a ceremonial, almost otherworldly gravity that perfectly suits the fantasy scope of Miyuki Miyabe's source material, brought to the page here by artist Yoichiro Ono. Fans following this Kurokawa release through 2010 will find the visual promise of this cover hard to resist.