Les Méchants de l'Histoire #1

Part of Dupuis's Les Méchants de l'Histoire series, this 2018 volume focuses on Vlad II de Wallachia — history's most notorious inspiration for vampire legend. The cover, rendered by Julien Solé from a scenario by Bernard Swysen, presents a stern, elaborately dressed Vlad framed in an oval portrait medallion against a deep burgundy background, his expression as cold and imperious as his reputation. It's an elegant, portrait-gallery approach to historical villainy that immediately sets the tone for this dark corner of medieval European history.