Locke & Key: Omega #4

Gabriel Rodriguez's cover for this penultimate chapter of Locke & Key: Omega sets a tense, atmospheric mood — a lone hand thrusts a glowing red flare into the night air, its crimson light bleeding across the stone gate of Keyhouse as a full moon hangs low and pale above churning coastal waters. The bare, skeletal trees and that ominous ironwork arch give the scene a feeling of desperate urgency, as though whoever holds the flare is signaling across the dark with everything they have. Joe Hill and Rodriguez have built one of IDW's most compelling horror series, and this 2013 issue, subtitled "Human Sacrifices," suggests the stakes couldn't be higher as the Omega arc nears its end.