The Shade #8

Tony Harris's painted cover for this 2012 DC limited series installment sets an immediately unsettling mood: the Shade himself stares out from beneath a dark top hat, flanked by grasping demonic hands against a deep crimson backdrop, with an ornate Art Nouveau "Metropolitain" entrance looming behind him. The tagline "Death by Demons in Old Paree!" and the period subtitle "Times Past: 1901 Family Ties Part II" promise a journey into the character's long past — specifically, a demon-haunted night in turn-of-the-century Paris. James Robinson and Jill Thompson bring their talents to this atmospheric chapter of one of DC's most thoughtfully crafted limited series.