The Books of Magic #22

Issue #22 of DC Vertigo's ongoing Books of Magic series arrives in 1996 with a hauntingly intimate cover by Michael Kaluta — a young man with round pink-tinted glasses holds open a wooden frame while a red-haired woman leans close, delicately applying what appears to be a tattoo to his bare chest, a intricate scorpion-moth design already taking shape on his skin. Ink pots, brushes, and a newspaper referencing scorpions and moths rest on the surface before them, grounding this strange ritual in something almost domestic. John Ney Rieber and Peter Gross continue their collaboration on the interior with a story titled "Needlepoint," and Kaluta's quietly unsettling cover sets a mood that is equal parts tender and arcane.