Blaze #11

The cover of Blaze #11 promises exactly what its tagline delivers — "Hot Lead and Cold Blood!" — as Gary Erskine's artwork packs the image with snarling vampires baring their fangs alongside a grim, sunglasses-wearing tough guy with a cigarette clenched between his teeth, all while a skull-insignia-wearing figure in the foreground levels a pair of heavy pistols directly at the reader. The tension between the supernatural threat and the very human, very armed response gives this 1995 Marvel issue a pulpy, hard-boiled energy that feels genuinely fun. Larry Hama's story, "A Pale Fire Gleaming," sounds like it lives up to the confrontational chaos on display here.