Sandman Mystery Theatre #24

The "Dr. Death" arc reaches its chilling conclusion in this March 1995 issue of DC Vertigo's Sandman Mystery Theatre, written by Matt Wagner and Steven T. Seagle. The photographic cover — credited to Gavin Wilson and Richard Bruning — places a shadowy, intense figure at the center of a tableau of green glass bottles, one bearing a skull-and-crossbones poison warning, as the tagline ominously promises his "compounds of chemical death poised" and his "true bedside manner revealed." It's a genuinely unsettling image that captures the noir mood this series does so well, making this final act of the four-part story feel like exactly the right payoff.