New Gods #5

Throne of Blood!" blazes across this February 1996 entry in DC's New Gods series, and Luke Ross's cover delivers on that promise with real menace — a red-and-blue demonic figure bearing a star emblem on its forehead looms over a fallen, armored warrior amid smoke and open flame, the ruins of some grand structure crumbling in the background. The composition puts the threat front and center, with the prone hero below suggesting the stakes couldn't be higher for the denizens of the Fourth World. With Tom Peyer and Rachel Pollack at the helm on "Descent Into Madness," this issue has the feel of a series firing on all cylinders.