Cerebus #23

A wintry December mood settles over this 1980 installment of Dave Sim's long-running independent series, with the cover depicting a brooding, heavyset figure looming large in a snowstorm while the small aardvark Cerebus grins mischievously in the foreground — a drink resting on the table between them. The contrast between the hulking stranger and the compact, impish Cerebus gives the scene an instantly compelling tension, all rendered in Sim's expressive inks. "The Beguiling" sounds like a promising title for whatever these two unlikely companions are up to on a cold winter's night.