North 40 #1

From WildStorm comes this atmospheric 2009 series opener that wears its rural-horror heart right on its sleeve. Fiona Staples' cover sets the tone perfectly: a striking dark-haired woman in a black dress dominates the foreground, flanked by an anxious young man in a "Cthulhu Lives" t-shirt, a troubled young woman, and a weathered sheriff in a cowboy hat — all gathered beneath an Interstate 40 highway sign and a half-visible "Welcome to Conover County" banner, with dark tentacle-like shapes curling ominously at their feet. Aaron Williams and Staples look to be delivering exactly what that Brian Wood pull-quote on the cover promises — ancient evil soaking into small-town America, and it genuinely looks like something to be unsettled by.