Books of Magic #9

Part of DC's Sandman Universe line, Books of Magic #9 brings a strikingly illuminated-manuscript aesthetic to its 2019 cover by Kai Carpenter. A young woman screams and strains against some unseen force at the center of an ornate decorative border, while smaller vignettes around the edges show a figure crackling with blinding light and a girl clutching what appears to be a book — all framed beneath a watchful owl. The tagline "The pages her prison; their words her bars" sets a quietly ominous tone for Kat Howard's story, brought to life inside by artists Tom Fowler and Brian Churilla with colors by Jordan Boyd.