Sandman Mystery Theatre #8

That unsettling close-up face — cracked, pale, and disturbingly close — sets the mood perfectly for "The Face Final Act," the concluding chapter of this arc from DC's Vertigo line. The chilling pull-quote on the cover ("…the killer advanced, grunting in rhythm beneath the dry, shiny flesh") promises the kind of noir-drenched, adult-oriented storytelling that made Sandman Mystery Theatre such a distinctive corner of the 1993 comics landscape. With Matt Wagner and John Watkiss crafting the story and Gavin Wilson delivering this deeply atmospheric painted cover, issue #8 is pulp menace rendered with genuine artistic confidence.