Fables #77

This December 2008 Vertigo issue opens the "Dark Ages" arc of Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, and Andrew Pepoy's long-running fairy-tale saga. The cover by James Jean is a hauntingly beautiful piece — rendered in aged sepia tones, it depicts carved stone figures of sleeping or fallen cherubs and angelic forms tumbling around a blank escutcheon, while vivid bursts of color emerge from monarch butterflies and delicate winged insects scattered across the composition. The contrast between the cold, weathered relief sculpture and those bright, living creatures gives the whole image a quietly elegiac mood that suits a story chapter called "Life in a Headless Empire" perfectly.