Vermillion #9

DC's Helix imprint delivered some of the most distinctive genre fiction of 1997, and Vermillion #9 opens the "Lord Iron and Lady Manganese" arc with a cover by John Totleben that sets a quietly unsettling mood. A brooding, long-haired figure draped in a red cloak dominates the foreground, holding a small circular object with careful deliberation, while through an ornate Moorish archway behind him stands a dark-haired woman in blue — the two figures separated by architecture yet bound by the composition's tension. Written by Lucius Shepard with art by Gary Erskine, this first chapter of three promises the blend of literary ambition and imaginative world-building that made Vermillion such a rewarding corner of the DC universe.