The Dreaming #34

Vertigo's dreamlike atmosphere is on full display in this 1999 installment of The Dreaming, with a hauntingly painted cover by Dave McKean showing a towering, shadowy maternal figure cradling a small, strange, otherworldly child — earthy greens and amber tones giving the image a sense of something both tender and deeply unsettling. The story arc continues with "Many Mansions, Part Eight: Ruin," written by Caitlín R. Kiernan with art by Marc Hempel, a creative team that brought a genuinely distinctive sensibility to the Sandman universe's spinoff. If you've been following this arc, this chapter's title alone promises the kind of melancholy weight that made this series one of Vertigo's more quietly compelling ongoing titles of the era.