Cerebus #86

A striking winter scene dominates this May 1986 issue from Aardvark-Vanaheim, with a wide-eyed figure trapped inside a giant black spider-like creature standing in a snow-swept landscape, while onlookers and a looming dark form crowd the edges of the composition. The cover art by Dave Sim and Gerhard blends the unsettling with the absurd in that unmistakable Cerebus fashion, rendered with crisp inks and atmospheric snowfall that gives the whole image a cold, eerie tension. "Flying Off the Handle at Oblique Angels" promises the kind of offbeat, layered storytelling that made this long-running independent series a compelling read throughout the 1980s.