The Maxx #12

Against a blazing orange-red background, a grotesque, grinning creature — all wild hair, bulging eyes, and a jagged mouth — thrusts toward the reader with a confrontational "Hey Kid! What the #$%! are you lookin' at?", making this one of the more brazenly irreverent covers of 1994. Bill Sienkiewicz's cover work is raw and visceral, blending ink splatters with an almost painterly intensity that perfectly captures the series' off-kilter energy. With writing from Sam Kieth and Bill Messner-Loebs and art by Kieth, The Maxx* #12 is a fine example of why Image's weirder corner of the comics world felt so genuinely exciting that year.