Shade, the Changing Man #42

Titled "Mourning Sickness" on the cover itself, this December 1993 DC/Vertigo entry in Peter Milligan's run on Shade, the Changing Man arrives with a striking image by Duncan Fegredo: a cigarette-smoking man in a battered trench coat stands amid a chaotic tangle of writhing, anguished figures — adults and children alike — while one dark-haired figure is hoisted aloft in a swirl of green fabric and visceral, serpentine forms. The composition is unsettling and vivid, with Fegredo balancing quiet dread in Shade's expression against the frenzied suffering surrounding him. With Milligan, Chris Bachalo, and Steve Yeowell among the interior talents, issue #42 is a genuinely compelling piece of early Vertigo storytelling.