The Dreaming #57

Vertigo's The Dreaming kicks off its "Rise" arc with issue #57, and Dave McKean's cover sets an unsettling tone immediately — a horned, insectoid creature looms over the tilted, half-conscious face of a human figure, rendered in McKean's signature painterly wash of amber, rust, and pale light. The dreamlike layering of the two figures feels genuinely disquieting, perfectly attuned to a series that has always lived at the edge of sleep and dread. With Caitlín R. Kiernan writing and Christian Højgaard and Ron Randall on interior art, "Bad Dreams" promises to be a compelling opening chapter.