The Books of Magic #73

Peter Gross's long-running Vertigo series reaches its penultimate chapter with "The Closing Part One — Chasing Barbatos," and MW Kaluta's cover beautifully sets the mood. The artwork layers multiple vignettes of Tim Hunter — the bespectacled young mage shown at various ages and in various predicaments — around a looming, grinning green demon figure that dominates the upper right, watching over a smaller Tim seated below it. It's a richly composed, slightly unsettling portrait of a boy whose life seems to be closing in on him from every direction, and a fine send-off as this beloved series heads toward its conclusion.