Conan: The Book of Thoth #2

Kelley Jones's cover for this second issue of Dark Horse's Conan: The Book of Thoth is a genuinely unsettling piece of work — a robed, glowing-eyed sorcerer looms over a ritual vessel, a massive serpent coiling around him while a fanged panther lurks at his shoulder, all bathed in deep crimson and shadow. A small, vulnerable figure appears trapped within the glowing orb at the center of the composition, hinting at the dark sorcery promised by the story title "The Serpent Stirs." With Kurt Busiek, Len Wein, and Kelley Jones collaborating and a generous 40 story pages packed in, this 2006 miniseries takes a decidedly sinister approach to Robert E. Howard's Hyborian world.