Murena #2

Philippe Delaby's cover for this 1999 Dargaud Benelux release is immediately arresting — a massive, cracked stone face wearing a wide, menacing grin, its surface worn and fractured like ancient Roman masonry, with a coiling snake draped across the top of the skull. The monochromatic, sculptural quality of the image gives "Zand en bloed" (Sand and Blood) a weighty, gladiatorial atmosphere that suits the series' Imperial Rome setting perfectly. Jean Dufaux and Delaby's Murena continues to be one of the most visually ambitious historical comics of its era.