The Spirit #21

Paul Smith's cover for The Spirit #21 (November 2008) sets a tense, foreboding scene: a battered, bound man sits at the center — hands tied, bloodied shirt, defiant expression — while two menacing figures flank him, one gripping a baseball bat and the other clutching a wrench, both clad in prison orange. Looming above, a gun barrel and a fist holding a knife press in from the edges, making it clear this man is in serious trouble. With Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier writing and Chad Hardin on interior art, "Nor Prison Walls..." promises a gritty chapter in Will Eisner's enduring masked-hero legacy.