Terminal City #1

The cover by Mark Chiarello sets the mood perfectly — a sleek, retro-futurist cityscape rendered in moody crimson and steel-blue, complete with a massive globe structure, a looming robotic or helmeted figure, and soaring modernist towers that feel equal parts 1939 World's Fair and film noir. DC's Vertigo imprint launched this series in 1996 with Dean Motter and Michael Lark at the helm, and that bold "WELCOME" sign anchoring the foreground promises a city with plenty of stories to tell. If you're drawn to stylized urban atmosphere with a vintage-tomorrow aesthetic, this opening chapter of "Episode One" is an inviting place to step off the train.