Shade, the Changing Man #12

Issue twelve of Peter Milligan and Chris Bachalo's DC Vertigo-era series arrives with a cover by Brendan McCarthy that is genuinely hard to look away from — a grotesque, blue-skinned figure looms large against a chaotic wash of yellow, red, and electric blue, knife in hand, radiating something between menace and madness. The tagline "The Look of Death Is in Your Eyes" suits the distorted, fever-dream composition perfectly, where reality itself seems to be melting at the edges. Suggested for mature readers and priced at $1.50, this June 1991 installment of "Edge of Vision, Part II" captures everything that made Shade, the Changing Man one of the most visually daring books of its era.