American Century #22

The cover by Glen Orbik sets a richly evocative mid-century mood: a lone man in a rumpled suit sits slumped against what appears to be a freight car doorway, gazing up at an enormous billboard painting of a glamorous red-haired woman in a red swimsuit, beach ball aloft, sunglasses cool and indifferent. That contrast — the weary figure below, the larger-than-life image above — captures something melancholy and distinctly American about aspiration and distance. Writers Howard Chaykin and David Tischman, with artist Luke Ross and inker John Stokes, kick off "Tramps, Part 1" in this March 2003 Vertigo entry that promises plenty of noir atmosphere ahead.