The Dreaming #36

Dave McKean's unsettling cover for this 1999 Vertigo issue presents a disintegrating human face — teeth bared in a grimace, flesh melting into gothic spires — rendered in washes of deep rose and rust that feel simultaneously painterly and nightmarish. The subtitle "Slow Dying" sets a distinctly foreboding tone for the opening chapter of "The Gyres," written by Caitlín R. Kiernan with interior art by Christian Højgaard and Teddy Kristiansen. It's the kind of cover that lingers with you long after the book is closed.