Fables #23

James Jean's cover for Fables #23 (May 2004) is a striking piece of design, laid out like a contact sheet of surveillance film strips showing a group of sunglasses-wearing men in black suits bristling with rifles and handguns — cool, menacing, and unmistakably organized. The chapter title "Our Second Amendment Issue" tells you everything you need to know about the heavily armed tension on display, while Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham's Vertigo series continues to prove that fairy-tale reimagining can carry very real teeth.