Animal Man #16

A somber graveyard setting frames this October 1989 issue, with Brian Bolland's cover depicting a fallen figure in purple lying chained among the headstones while Animal Man and three costumed allies — including a robot-like figure — stand over the scene with grim resolve. The story promise of "The Clockwork Crimes of the Time Commander" adds a temporal menace to the atmosphere that Morrison, Truog, and Hazlewood are clearly building toward. It's a quietly unsettling image that captures DC's late-'80s willingness to push its heroes into darker, more grounded territory.