Codename Baboushka

The end of the year is a time of reflection in many ways, and that often means thinking about and assessing what the very best releases in any particular medium were. As we prepare to cross the threshold into 2017, we've been collecting some of the best covers of the year by publisher for your perusal, and today we're looking at fifty of the best comic book covers released from Image Comics in 2016.

Last year brought us a whole lot of great new titles from Image, and Codename Baboushka was no exception. Launched in October by Antony Johnston, Shari Chankhamma and Simon Bowland, the series focuses on Contessa Annika Malikova, a former boss in the Russian Mafiya who defected to America --- and was blackmailed in to running missions for the CIA. It's a bombastic take on espionage, and for more classified information, I spoke to Johnston about the development of the idea, his approach to high action, and the essays from writers like Leigh Alexander and Danielle Henderson included in each issue.