Le Sommet des dieux #2

The second volume of Le Sommet des dieux continues Jirō Taniguchi's breathtaking visual collaboration with Yumemakura Baku, and this cover says everything about the series' spirit: a lone climber in a yellow jacket clings to a sheer rock face, crampons biting into the stone, ice axes and gear hanging at his side as he pushes upward against the cold grey of the mountain. Published by Dargaud in 2004, this Franco-Belgian edition of the celebrated Japanese manga brings a painterly stillness to extreme vertical drama. If the cover alone — all quiet tension and raw altitude — doesn't pull you in, nothing will.