The Unwritten #30

This December 2011 Vertigo issue presents a haunting cover by Yuko Shimizu: an ornate golden frame holds a sepia-toned family portrait — a suited man standing behind a seated couple and their young child — evoking old photographs and the weight of inherited stories. Below the frame, a ghostly green skeletal hand reaches upward, while a smaller inset vignette shows two children, one wearing a mask. Mike Carey and Peter Gross close out the "On to Genesis" arc with Vince Locke adding inks, promising the kind of layered, literary storytelling that has made The Unwritten one of Vertigo's most ambitious series.