Cagliostro #2

The second volume of Delcourt's Cagliostro series, subtitled La Cérémonie de l'Ombre, promises a rich dive into 18th-century intrigue and occult drama. The cover — by Delalande, Prolongeau, and Lapo — is immediately arresting: a stern, tricorn-hatted figure in an emblem-adorned cape looms large against a smoldering red sky, while below, a red-cloaked woman bearing an ankh staff and a bloodied blade leads a procession of masked, black-robed figures by torchlight. The tension between that commanding presence above and the shadowy ceremony unfolding beneath him sets a perfectly ominous tone for this Franco-Belgian historical thriller.