Dungeons & Dragons #8

Tyler Walpole's painted cover for this 2011 IDW series delivers an immediately gripping image: a massive, purple-skinned creature with a single glaring eye and a maw full of jagged teeth looms over a lone armored warrior who stares up at it with grim defiance. The sheer scale contrast between the hulking monster and the comparatively small human figure makes the threat feel viscerally real. With John Rogers writing and Andrea Di Vito on interior art, this is the kind of fantasy adventure that reminds you why Dungeons & Dragons has always fired the imagination.