Arcanum #7

The cover of Arcanum #7 from Top Cow/Image frames a striking collision of forces: a glowing, amber-lit figure stands at the center of a cracked stone portal, flanked by two imposing, larger-than-life faces — one scarred and grimacing on the left, another curly-haired and intense on the right — while a mass of grotesque zombie-like creatures piles up across the bottom and shadowy, decayed faces loom in the darkness above. Brandon Peterson's pencils and Tim Townsend's inks give the composition a dense, foreboding energy that packs an enormous amount of menace into a single image. If this cover is any measure, 1998's Arcanum was delivering high-stakes fantasy horror with real visual ambition.