Dexter's Laboratory #5

DC's 2000 Cartoon Network tie-in delivers a wonderfully unsettling cover: a wide-eyed, alarmed Dexter is trapped inside a large circular machine while a towering, sharp-toothed red-haired woman looms over him, gripping a control and cheerfully declaring, "Don't worry, dear, this won't hurt a bit!" The cover pencils by Genndy Tartakovsky and inks by Jeff Albrecht perfectly capture that mix of suburban menace and slapstick dread hinted at by the story title "Momdark!" — and at just $1.99, issue #5 is a fun snapshot of the series at its playful best.