Hellblazer #125

This May 1998 Vertigo entry kicks off "How to Play with Fire" with a cover by Sean Phillips that's genuinely hard to look away from — a figure consumed by roaring flames, arms spread wide like a crucifixion, set against a cold, wintry landscape that makes the inferno feel all the more vivid and unsettling. The tension between that icy blue ground and the engulfing orange fire gives the image a haunting stillness, perfectly in keeping with John Constantine's world of dread and dark wonder. With Paul Jenkins writing and Warren Pleece on interiors, this four-part arc promises the kind of brooding, mature storytelling that made Hellblazer one of Vertigo's defining titles.