Shade, the Changing Man #45

Kicking off "A Season in Hell" with issue #45, this March 1994 entry in DC/Vertigo's long-running series plunges Shade into deeply unsettling territory — as suggested by the story arc title and the cover's striking painted imagery by Duncan Fegredo. The cover depicts a figure — Shade himself — tumbling or suspended in a surreal underwater-like space, his long dark hair fanning out, wearing a vivid patterned coat of green, black, and white, with water droplets scattering across his skin and clothes. With Peter Milligan writing and Chris Bachalo on interior art, this is the Vertigo mature-readers line operating at full creative confidence.