Freaks of the Heartland #6

The finale of Steve Niles and Greg Ruth's rural horror series closes on a cover as haunting as the story that preceded it — a solitary figure standing beneath a bare, gnarled tree against a sky blazing in deep reds and burning amber, the whole scene painted with the kind of atmospheric weight Greg Ruth brings to every page. That lone silhouette on the hillside captures everything unsettling and quietly poignant about this 2004 Dark Horse series, where the American heartland feels as vast and foreboding as any monster. A fitting, beautifully rendered send-off to one of the more quietly affecting horror stories of its year.