Batman: The Mad Monk #1

Matt Wagner's atmospheric cover for this first chapter of the six-part "Dark Moon Rising" arc sets a genuinely unsettling mood: a cloaked figure in crimson stands before a brooding stone castle, two chained wolves snarling at their master's side, while Batman's imposing face looms enormous in the moonlit sky above. The gothic imagery — storm clouds, a pale full moon, and that fortress perched on rocky ground — promises something with real teeth to it. Wagner writes, draws, and inks the whole series himself, with Dave Stewart's moody colors deepening every shadow on this striking opener.