Freaks of the Heartland #1

From Dark Horse Comics, this haunting 2004 opener from writer Steve Niles and artist Greg Ruth sets a deeply unsettling rural mood right from the cover. Greg Ruth's painted imagery pulls you into a vast, golden wheat field where a young boy walks toward a weathered farmhouse, its windows glowing an eerie amber while a lone figure stands ominously in the distance and a flock of birds scatters across the stormy sky above. It's the kind of Americana-tinged dread that gets under your skin before you've even opened the first page.