Dead Ahead #2

Issue two of Image's Dead Ahead arrives with a cover that's hard to look away from — a massive, rotting creature dominates the image, its enormous gaping maw lined with jagged teeth and a pair of bulging, red-irised eyes staring straight at you, while multiple decomposed skulls and zombie faces erupt from its writhing, fleshy mass against a deep red and midnight blue backdrop. Alex Niño's cover linework and inks pack every inch with grotesque, surreal detail that feels genuinely unsettling without tipping into parody. With Mel Smith, Paul H. Birch, and Clark K. Castillo steering the story and Moose Baumann's colors giving the horror a visceral, saturated punch, this 2009 series clearly has no interest in playing it safe.