Blood and Shadows #1

DC's Vertigo imprint had a talent for pairing boundary-pushing writers with artists who matched their intensity, and this 1996 collaboration between Joe R. Lansdale and Mark A. Nelson announces itself with unmistakable confidence. Nelson's cover artwork is a rich collision of crimson horror and hard-boiled grit — a trench-coated figure stands armed with a shotgun against a rural backdrop, while a woman's face emerges from swirling, visceral red chaos below, and a massive shadowed hat looms above like a dark omen. For readers who like their noir steeped in Southern Gothic menace, Blood and Shadows #1 looks like exactly the kind of Vertigo book that rewards the cover price.