Criminal Macabre: A Cal McDonald Mystery #3

Ben Templesmith's cover for issue #3 of this Dark Horse series pulls you straight into its seedy supernatural world — a hunched, shadowy figure in a dark coat dominates the frame, clutching something unsettling while surrounded by the dim glow of laboratory glassware and eerie mechanical details. The earthy, rust-and-shadow palette gives the whole scene a grimy, atmospheric weight that suits a story subtitled "Geekenstein" perfectly. Steve Niles and Templesmith — the team behind 30 Days of Night — bring that same knack for dread-soaked mood to Cal McDonald's macabre corner of 2003 crime fiction.