Hellblazer #17

This April 1989 installment of John Constantine, Hellblazer presents one of the most unsettling covers in the series' early run — a massive, deep-purple eye dominates the image, its dilated pupil swallowing nearly the entire page, while reflected in its surface we glimpse Constantine himself, cigarette in hand, riding what appears to be a train carriage. Dave McKean's painted cover work transforms something as mundane as a commute into something genuinely eerie, making the viewer feel like an unwilling witness peering in from the dark. Part IV of "The Fear Machine" arc, written by Jamie Delano, promises the brooding, occult-tinged atmosphere that made this mature-readers title essential reading in 1989.