Fables #86

Fables #86 arrives with one of the most unsettling cover images in Vertigo's 2009 lineup — a pale, blue-skinned figure with hollow golden eyes cradles a human skull, while swirling golden line-work of fantastical creatures writhes across the amber background behind them. The composition, painted by Joao Ruas, carries the quiet menace of a Renaissance portrait filtered through something far darker and stranger. Inside, Bill Willingham, Jim Fern, and Craig Hamilton deliver "Boxing Days," promising another chapter of the mature, boundary-pushing storytelling that has made this series essential reading.