Sandman #9

A raven cuts through a warm African twilight on this quietly haunting cover from Dave McKean, flanked by a richly patterned figure on the left and a pale, shadowy presence emerging from darkness on the right. The Sandman: Master of Dreams #9 arrives in September 1989 with the creative team of Gaiman, Dringenberg, and Jones, and McKean's atmospheric triptych composition sets a tone that feels both mythic and deeply intimate. Suggested for mature readers, this is the kind of issue that reminds you why this series carried such a distinctive mood from its earliest chapters.