Animal Man #88

This DC/Vertigo entry from October 1995 carries the unsettling subtitle "Placenta of the Earth," and Rick Berry's painted cover art perfectly matches that primal, organic mood — a pair of gloved hands holds up a swirling, luminous image that pulses with amber, green, and violet tones, suggesting something alive and elemental just beneath the surface. The late-run Animal Man series continued to push Vertigo's appetite for thoughtful, mature storytelling, with Jerry Prosser writing and Fred Harper on interior art. If you're drawn to superhero comics that trade capes for something stranger and more visceral, this issue's haunting cover alone makes a compelling case.