This 'City Beneath Her Feet' #3 page belongs on a wall

The City Beneath Her Feet is an action thriller wrapped up in a tangled love story about a relatable novelist with task initiation issues that are made worse by a mundane, uninteresting life. That is until meeting her veritable dream girl, a mysterious assassin with irresistible charisma strong enough to make wearing your own blood fashionable. The dysfunctional relationship that follows inspired a book. But as the author soon discovers, some muses come with a deadly cost.

We've been waiting since November's previous issue release to find out what happens to our lovestruck writer Zara. But issue 3 is finally coming out this July (though print preorders end 5/11, fyi). Even better, DSTLRY gave us an advanced copy as well as some gorgeous preview pages to share.

If you've been sleeping on The City Beneath Her Feet, this is your official wake up call to catch up. It might be tough to find back issues at this point (and most definitely once it starts racking up awards nominations), but you can snag a free digital copy of issue 1 on Neon Ichiban.

The series does a great job of capturing the torrent of emotions felt by meeting someone new, exciting, and impossible to ignore. Especially when that person isn't compatible, and explosively blows in and out of your life. And by the end, it definitely makes an impression. Almost like you can feel the weight of emotional grief you just witnessed over the course of 48 pages.

Oh and it has some phenomenal art, too...

The City Beneath Her Feet is a masterclass in creative collaboration

I will buy any book I'm considering once I realize Jordie Bellaire is among the collaborators. This has been true ever since picking up 2014's They're Not Like Us, which I remember as one of the first times a color artist really stood out to me enough to go find more of their work. That's certainly true for The City Beneath Her Feet. Never mind that series writer James Tynion IV also penned Spectregraph, my overall favorite DSTLRY series. (It didn't hurt, though.)

That's not to take away from the illustrations and sequential pacing provided by artist Elsa Charretier. Admittedly, it took me a bit to appreciate her style, which fits the color choices moving the story forward in all the unspoken ways that don't immediately occur to a person. On my second read, I caught several panels that stand on their own without context and plenty of reoccurring stylistic elements.

For instance, the many entire pages devoted to Zara acting as narrator in an emotionally compromised conversation featuring a limited color palette of blues and yellows. This ensures that you don't miss the subtle emotions. It's not just found in facial expressions, but often in the hand gestures and Zara's posture between panels. With respect to Charretier's mainstream comics work (good in its own right), The City Beneath Her Feet just feels iconic in a way that has yet to catch up with the public attention span. And the final issue solidifies that notion.

The City Beneath Her Feet #3 is scheduled to hit comic shop and digital shelves July 1. Check out the preview pages below to tide you over until then.