Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #52

Part one of "Tao" opens with a striking cover by Arthur Ranson: a close-up of a grim, blue-cowled Batman dominates the foreground, while above him two figures hang suspended — one clutching a vivid green-and-orange dragon kite, the other gripping what appears to be a bat-shaped kite — against a warm, hazy sky. The contrast between Batman's steely composure below and the almost dreamlike kite imagery above gives this 1993 issue an atmosphere that's genuinely unlike anything else on the rack that month. With Alan Grant writing and Ranson handling both pencils and inks, "Legends of the Dark Knight" was clearly the place for darker, more atmospheric Batman storytelling.