Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children #17

Piranha Press's Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children was never shy about unsettling imagery, and Volume 17 makes that clear immediately with Dan Sweetman's haunting cover painting of a pale, skeletal animal skull rendered in luminous detail against a dark, earthy background. The hollow eye socket and exposed bone carry an eerie, almost dreamlike quality that perfectly suits the series' mature, offbeat sensibility. Dave Louapre and Dan Sweetman bring their singular voice to "A Conspiracy of Sweaters" — a title that promises the kind of darkly whimsical storytelling this anthology does so well.