Lucifer #51

A winged, golden-haired figure sits in brooding repose at the center of this striking Vertigo cover, flanked by a mosaic of inset images — a close-cropped feminine face, a dark-haired woman surrounded by ghostly shapes, and a snarling wolf with jaws wide open. Christopher Moeller's painted artwork gives the whole composition a rich, almost mythological weight that suits the series perfectly. Mike Carey and Peter Gross kick off a new four-part arc, "The Wolf Beneath the Tree," in this August 2004 issue, and that wolf on the cover suggests the title is no idle metaphor.