Unknown Soldier #9

Vertigo's Unknown Soldier was one of the most striking series on shelves in 2009, and issue #9 makes that case with a single arresting image: a silhouetted figure mid-strike, machete raised, rendered in bold black and red against a fragmented close-up of a bandage-wrapped, snarling face. Dave Johnson's cover design is stark and visceral, using sharp graphic contrast to capture the tension at the heart of "Easy Kill — Chapter Two." With Joshua Dysart writing and Alberto Ponticelli on art, this is mature Vertigo storytelling doing exactly what it does best.