Vermillion #12

The final issue of DC's Helix series Vermillion closes out with a cover by Mike Kaluta that's genuinely hard to look away from — a red-caped figure clutching a child stands at the center, loomed over by a vast, horned blue entity whose wings spread across the entire composition, while six glowing, otherworldly faces float in a ring around the pair. Subtitled "Three Dreams and Two Stories," this September 1997 issue promises something more fragmented and dreamlike than a conventional narrative, with the team of Lucius Shepard, Gary Erskine, John Totleben, and Al Davison delivering the work. Kaluta's cover sets an atmosphere that feels both protective and deeply unsettling — exactly the right note for a series that always played at the edges of dark fantasy.