Vermillion #3

Part three of "Starlight Drive" arrives in this December 1996 entry in DC's Helix imprint, with a cover by Mike Kaluta that pulls you straight into surreal, dreamlike territory. A pale, otherworldly face dominates the composition, crowned by a great bird with spread wings, while a green-skinned figure hovers at center and clusters of infant-like forms drift amid tangled pink tendrils on either side. It's a hauntingly beautiful piece of work from Kaluta, and with Lucius Shepard writing and Al Davison and Kim DeMulder handling interior art, Vermillion continues to look like one of the more intriguing corners of mid-'90s mature-readers comics.