Dream Police #2

The oversized "Lieutenant Detective — Dream Police" badge, complete with an all-seeing eye at its center, dominates this cover and says everything about the surreal jurisdiction J. Michael Straczynski is staking out. In the foreground, a dark-haired female detective brandishes her weapon alongside a grim-faced male partner, while a grid of supporting faces — a chrome-skulled figure, stern authority types, an eerie skull-mouthed creature, and other unsettling characters — hints at the wild cast populating the dreamscape beat. Artist Sid Kotian and colorist Bill Farmer fill every panel with tightly wound tension, making this 2014 Image series feel like a noir procedural pushed right to the edge of the uncanny.