Joe the Barbarian #1

Grant Morrison and Sean Murphy launch this Vertigo series with a cover that immediately signals something strange and layered: a slight, wide-eyed boy in a striped jacket clutches a book and stares upward, while below him swarm tiny soldiers, cavalry, armored vehicles, and fantastical figures that seem to exist in an entirely different scale — as though an epic world is literally forming at his feet. Behind him, the real world bleeds into something otherworldly, with floating structures and a blood-red sky suggesting two realities pressing against each other. At just a dollar, this March 2010 first issue is a striking introduction to a story that already feels both achingly personal and genuinely vast.