La Douce 12 #[nn]

François Schuiten's cover for this 2012 Casterman album is a study in brooding beauty — a magnificent green steam locomotive numbered 12.004 dominates the composition, billowing dark smoke into a grey, atmospheric sky. Perched atop the engine's nose is a dark-haired woman in white, while a lone figure in a coat and cap stands on the flooded ground below, gazing up at the great machine. The contrast between the locomotive's streamlined power and the eerily still, waterlogged landscape makes for a genuinely arresting image that draws you in immediately.