Before Watchmen: Moloch #1

The Before Watchmen prequel series turns its focus to one of the Watchmen universe's most enigmatic villains with this opener from J. Michael Straczynski and Eduardo Risso. The cover, also by Risso, is quietly unsettling: Moloch looms in shadow beneath his signature dark turban and jeweled headband, his pale, elongated hands fanning a spread of playing cards spattered with fresh blood. It's a striking image that frames this Rated-M series as something genuinely noir — a character study of a man whose history is written in darkness.