The Hammer #1

Dark Horse launched this four-issue miniseries in 1997 with a cover by Kelley Jones that immediately announces its sword-and-sorcery ambitions. A powerfully built warrior dominates the image, arms raised as he wields a crackling, lightning-wreathed blade against a sky of dark, starbursting energy, while a snarling demonic figure clutches at his torso and a field of screaming skulls surrounds them both — two additional human faces loom watchfully from the lower right corner. Jones writes, draws, and inks the entire series himself, with colors by Les Dorscheid and Stu Hiner bringing that electric blue and deep shadow to vivid life.