Gangland #1

DC's Vertigo imprint launched this 1998 anthology of crime fiction with a cover by Tim Bradstreet that sets the tone immediately — a heavyset man in a rumpled shirt and loosened tie sits on a public toilet, reading a newspaper, surrounded by graffiti-covered walls and what appears to be blood on the floor, a shotgun resting nearby. It's an image that's simultaneously mundane and menacing, perfectly capturing the gritty, street-level world Vertigo was carving out for mature readers. With Brian Azzarello's "Clean House" among the contents and Bradstreet handling every visual aspect of the cover, this first issue announces itself as a serious entry into crime comics.