Mercy (1993) page 52

The mid-to-late 80s and early 90s saw a proliferation of gorgeous and often groundbreaking painted comics, with art from the likes of Jon Muth, Kent Williams, Bill Sienkiewicz, George Pratt, Charles Vess, Scott Hampton, and Alex Ross, just to name a few. One of my favorite painters from the middle of that period was Paul Johnson, who actually left the comics industry and painting altogether in the early 2000s. During his relatively short period of output, however, his credits included a number of standout works, including an issue of the original Books of Magic with Neil Gaiman, Interface for Epic Comics, an arc of Legends of the Dark Knight with James Robinson, and several stories for 2000AD.

Out of all his comic work, the book that I have perhaps the greatest affection for is Mercy, which was a prestige format one shot he did with writer J.M. DeMatteis for Vertigo. The art in the book was stunning, and the theme of the story was a welcome balm against the decidedly darker and more cynical tone of many of the comics from the period.

Art from the issue doesn't seem to turn up very often, so I was very surprised to see this page among Mike Burkey's offerings during a recent Dueling Dealers webcast and was happy to give it a new home.