Hard Time #6

The Escher-like cover of Hard Time #6 says everything about this DC Focus series' disorienting premise: a young man in prison orange falls — or rises? — through a fractured, impossible stairwell where gravity has no authority, with scattered figures navigating the labyrinthine structure in every direction. Brian Hurtt's cover art twists perspective into something genuinely unsettling, perfectly suited to a story titled "Ascension." Written by Steve Gerber and Mary Skrenes, this 2004 series continues to explore the strange, surreal pressures bearing down on its young protagonist.