Batman #494

Part five of DC's sprawling 1993 "Knightfall" saga finds Batman in a genuinely unsettling composition by cover artist Kelley Jones — a dramatically caped Dark Knight looms at center, simultaneously menaced by a leering Joker clutching at him from below and a towering Scarecrow looming from above with arms outstretched. The contrast between Batman's tense, almost vulnerable posture and the gleeful chaos of his two tormentors makes for a cover that radiates dread without resorting to action-movie flash. Doug Moench, Jim Aparo, and Tom Mandrake bring "Night Terrors" to life inside, making this an essential chapter in one of Batman's most ambitious storylines of the era.