The Invisibles #8

Brian Bolland's cover for this September 1997 Vertigo issue is a real showstopper — a 1920s flapper in a black fringed dress strikes a dynamic pose at the center of an ornate mandala-like wheel, surrounded by five portrait medallions depicting an eclectic cast of period-dressed characters, including a woman with a cigarette and revolver, a smirking man in a striped suit, a stern figure holding a martini glass, a bearded man in black, and a dark-haired woman in beaded jewelry. Sanskrit script rings the wheel against a vivid backdrop of stylized lotus petals, giving the whole composition an occult-tinged, art-deco elegance. With Grant Morrison writing and Phil Jimenez on interior art, "Poor Little Rich Girl (Sensitive Criminals Part One)" promises the kind of era-spanning strangeness that made The Invisibles one of Vertigo's most distinctive series.