Cerebus #96

This March 1987 installment of Dave Sim and Gerhard's long-running independent series presents one of the more intriguing close-up covers in the run — a pair of massive, grey-furred hands (unmistakably Cerebus's) gripping what appears to be a rolled document or scroll, with the wooden handles of the scroll filling the frame in a tightly cropped, almost cinematic composition. The bold yellow stripes and deep purples in the background give the image a striking graphic weight, drawing the eye straight to whatever that parchment holds. Titled "An Anchor That's Going Places," issue #96 promises the kind of sharp, literary storytelling that made Cerebus one of 1987's most distinctive voices in self-published comics.