The Books of Magic #38

Part of DC's Vertigo mature-readers line, this 1997 installment closes out the "Rites of Passage" arc with a cover by Michael Wm. Kaluta that feels genuinely unsettling — a small, solitary boy stands at the center of a chaotic scene, dwarfed by a towering cascade of theatrical masks and heavy chains, with shadowy figures crowding the margins all around him. The contrast between that lone figure below and the looming, expressionless faces above gives the image a real weight, suggesting a young person confronting something far larger than himself. With writing by John Ney Rieber and interior art by Peter Snejbjerg, this concluding chapter promises the layered, atmospheric storytelling that made Books of Magic one of Vertigo's most distinctive series.