Sandman #39

Part of Neil Gaiman and John Watkiss's "Convergence" chapter of Sandman, this July 1992 issue carries the haunting, dreamlike atmosphere you'd expect from the arc's title story "Soft Places." Dave McKean's cover is a striking still-life tableau — a pale crescent-moon mask looms over a shadowed figure seated before a wooden compartment tray scattered with small objects, bathed in warm amber light that gives the whole composition a quiet, unsettling intimacy. It's a beautifully composed image that perfectly captures the series' blend of the surreal and the meditative.