Batman: Shadow of the Bat #40

A brooding, atmospheric cover by Brian Stelfreeze sets the tone perfectly for "Anarky Part One: Prophet of Doom" — a masked, wild-bearded figure looms large over a glowing crystal ball in which a tiny, vulnerable Batman is trapped, suggesting the Dark Knight is very much at someone else's mercy. The color palette of deep golds, purples, and smoky greens gives the whole image a genuinely unsettling, mystical weight. With Alan Grant writing and John Paul Leon on interior art, this 1995 entry in the Shadow of the Bat run looks like a compelling start to what promises to be a tense clash between Batman and the anarchic villain who seems to hold his fate in both hands.