Illustration: Charles Burns' ace collection of covers for The Believer on show

American cartoonist and illustrator Charles Burns first acquired a gaggle of avid comic book fans in the early 1980s with his drawings for avant-garde comic magazine RAW and his portfolio of stomach-churningly visceral ink illustration, not least the seminal graphic novel Black Hole. He’s had us screwing up our eyes in equal parts tense astonishment and discomfort ever since.

Alongside the mutation, violence and disease of Black Hole, however, he has also been creating covers for literary magazine The Believer with his stark black line drawings for over a decade. The result is a spectacularly expansive catalogue consisting of over 300 portraits of artists, musicians, actors, writers and people of note which is on display in New York for your viewing pleasure.

Charles Burns: Cover Portraits for the Believer 2003-2013 is at the Adam Baumgold Gallery until July 26.