Sandman Mystery Theatre #34

DC Vertigo's Sandman Mystery Theatre #34 brings readers to Act Two of "The Python," and the cover — rendered in stark, unsettling monochrome by Gavin Wilson and Richard Bruning — delivers an immediate sense of dread: a masked, blank-eyed figure looms close, bathed in harsh light, with the tagline "…vertebrae shattered as the blood in his brain began to boil" setting an appropriately chilling tone. Matt Wagner and Steven T. Seagle keep the pulp noir atmosphere thick, while Warren Pleece's line work promises the moody interiors this series does so well. If you're following this four-part arc, this 1996 installment is exactly the kind of atmospheric, mature-readers noir that made Vertigo's corner of the DC universe so compelling.