Cerebus #120

Part of the landmark "Jaka's Story" arc, this March 1989 issue from Aardvark-Vanaheim opens the chapter titled "The Poet 1" with a cover that commands attention. Dave Sim and Gerhard deliver a painterly, atmospheric image of a heavyset, dark-coated man holding a lit cigarette, standing against a brooding stormy sky with what appears to be a small prone figure at his feet — moody and quietly unsettling. The collaboration between Sim's linework and Gerhard's backgrounds gives the scene a striking, almost literary weight that signals something more than a typical superhero yarn.