Sandman #51

A photorealistic painting by Dave McKean sets an immediately haunting mood for this 1993 Vertigo entry: a half-timbered Tudor-style house perches dramatically on the edge of a sheer cliff, bathed in deep cobalt blue beneath a sliver of crescent moon, the whole scene framed by bare winter branches as though suspended in the night sky. It's a quietly unsettling image — isolated, atmospheric, and perfectly pitched for Neil Gaiman's "Worlds' End, Part 1: A Tale of Two Cities," opening a new multi-part arc with Bryan Talbot and Alec Stevens handling interior art. Sandman at its most atmospheric.