Dead, She Said #1

Steve Niles and Bernie Wrightson bring their talents together for this 2008 IDW horror-noir series, with Wrightson's cover immediately setting a gripping tone — a trench-coated detective in a fedora raises his gun while parting heavy purple curtains, confronted by the grotesque, wide-eyed face of what appears to be a decomposing figure sprawled in the foreground. The tension between hard-boiled detective atmosphere and outright horror imagery makes this opener genuinely compelling, and Wrightson's detailed linework gives the scene a creepy, lived-in authenticity that fans of both genres will appreciate.