The Maxx #3

Rain lashes down on a massive, yellow-gauntleted fist thrusting two enormous claws skyward — a raw, visceral image that makes The Maxx #3 impossible to overlook on any 1993 comics rack. Sam Kieth's cover pencils and inks give the Maxx's signature look a drenched, almost primal energy, with every raindrop and sinew rendered in punishing detail. Paired with Bill Messner-Loebs on writing duties and Steve Oliff's vivid colors, this issue — "Jungle Flowers Grown in Blood" — promises the same beautifully strange blend of grit and imagination that made Image's early line so distinctive.