Sandman Mystery Theatre #44

The photorealistic cover of this November 1996 DC Vertigo issue pulls you in close on a young woman's face — wide-eyed, tense, her bandaged hand pressed against what looks like a barred surface — conveying the dread the series does so well. The cover, rendered by Gavin Wilson and Richard Bruning, promises "Shocking Secrets Revealed!" as "The Phantom of the Fair" reaches its four-part conclusion, with the tagline warning of a curtain of crime spreading across the Slaughterhouse Fair. Written by Matt Wagner and Steven T. Seagle with art by Guy Davis, this concluding chapter looks to deliver the atmospheric noir menace that made Sandman Mystery Theatre one of Vertigo's most distinctive offerings of the era.