Buffy the Vampire Slayer #45

This 2002 Dark Horse issue brings the "Death of Buffy" arc to its third and final chapter, with a cover by Brian Horton and Paul Lee that makes an immediate impression: a wounded, anguished Buffy clutches an earthen vessel while blood traces her face, and looming above her in swirling crimson energy is a wide-eyed, otherworldly figure whose presence feels unmistakably threatening. The composition is painterly and genuinely haunting, balancing Buffy's vulnerability against the supernatural menace bearing down on her. With Tom Fassbender and Jim Pascoe writing and Cliff Richards on interior art, this is the kind of issue that reminds you why the Buffy comics carried real dramatic weight.