Buffy the Vampire Slayer #12

The cover of this 1999 Dark Horse issue sets a genuinely tense scene: Buffy crouches front and center, staff in hand and expression locked in fierce determination, while a massive, glowing-eyed demon looms ominously over the entire group behind her. Several figures — seemingly caught in the chaos, one with arms raised — are bathed in the flickering light of torches and candles, lending the whole composition an eerie, ritualistic atmosphere. With pencils by Randy Green and inks by Tim Townsend, and a story called "A Nice Girl Like You" written by Christopher Golden, this issue promises the kind of supernatural dread and slayer grit that made the series so compelling.