Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #36

Eastman and Laird's long-running Mirage series takes a striking atmospheric turn with this 1991 issue, "Souls End." Michael Zulli's painted cover depicts a lone Turtle — cloaked and crouched atop a rocky outcropping against a turbulent, fire-lit sky — facing off against an enormous skeletal bird creature with dark, outstretched wings and talon-tipped legs. It's a brooding, almost mythological image that feels worlds away from the sewer-dwelling action of the series' early years, and Zulli's art throughout makes this a memorable entry in the Mirage run.