Spawn: The Dark Ages #16

Ashley Wood's painted cover for issue #16 sets a brooding, atmospheric tone — the medieval Spawn looms in shadow above a massive skull bearing intricate ceremonial markings, his masked face and muscular frame rendered in deep, sepia-tinged tones. The composition feels more like a dark oil painting than a typical superhero cover, which fits perfectly with this series' grim, historical setting. With Steve Niles writing and Nat Jones on interior art, Spawn: The Dark Ages continues to be one of Image's more distinctive corners of the Spawn universe in 2000.