Starman #21

Part two of the "Sand and Stars" arc finds Starman #21 (August 1996) delivering one of the series' most visually striking covers, with Tony Harris's painted-style artwork presenting a gas-masked figure in a leather jacket — star badge prominent on the chest — confronted by a looming, almost carnival-mask villain clutching what appears to be a canister. Fragments of ominous text — autopsy report, "John Blair," "gunshot wounds" — bleed across the lower right, giving the cover an unsettling, forensic atmosphere. James Robinson, Harris, and Wade von Grawbadger were firing on all cylinders during this run, and this chapter of the four-part story looks every bit as compelling as that creative team promises.