American Century #9

A battered, rust-eaten Route 66 highway sign fills the cover of this Vertigo series, its weathered surface suggesting long miles and hard-worn American roads. Howard Chaykin and David Tischman's noir-tinged collaboration — with art by Warren Pleece — takes its cues from the Mother Road itself, that storied stretch of blacktop that promised freedom and often delivered something far more complicated. John Van Fleet's cover art wrings remarkable atmosphere out of oxidized metal alone, and the Time.com pull quote sets the tone perfectly: this is a series that revels in cynicism with style.