Star Wars #4

The fourth chapter of Dark Horse's "Prelude to Rebellion" puts a Jedi — a cone-headed Iktotchi warrior in combat armor — front and center, lightsaber raised against a circle of snarling, fang-filled alien creatures pressing in from every side. Dan Brereton's painted cover work gives the scene a moody, textured energy that feels genuinely tense, with industrial scaffolding looming in the background adding to the sense of a desperate last stand. Four issues into this six-part 1999 series, the stakes are clearly escalating in a satisfying way.