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David’s Got You Covered (Week of 3/14/12)

By | March 16th, 2012
Posted in Columns | % Comments

Oh man, what a week comic fans. This was one hell of a week in comic covers, with two cover artists who finished in the best of the month breakdown for January barely making the cut for this week.

That’s how good this week was.

Click through the jump to find my five favorite covers of the week, and bravura work to all involved. Just superb efforts by all featured here.

5. Blue Estate #10
Art by Viktor Kalvachev

Viktor Kalvachev is a gifted cover artist, but one of the things that always gets me about his “Blue Estate” covers are just how entertaining they are. It’s one thing to be able to make an engaging image. It’s another to make ones that tell a story. But good god, this is the second straight issue that I’ve found Kalvachev’s effort amusing in the best ways possible. I love the design aspects for the titles/credits at the top, I love the references to reviews on it as well, and the extremely literal nature of the White Russian amuses me to end.

Often when an artist does big things on covers for indie books, a part of you wants to see what they can do on a Big Two book. To be honest though, I wouldn’t want to waste Kalvachev’s unique abilities on a watered down approximation on an Avengers book of any variety.

4. The Activity #4
Art by Mitch Gerads

Two months in a row! Go Mitch! This cover is great for a lot of the same reasons that the cover to #3 was great. The blending of a beautiful, elegantly colored image at the top with the superb logo design below is one of the best examples in comics – period – of mashing up those two aspects. Each are their own dynamic images that seamlessly play into each others strengths. It’s a hell of a thing that this cover isn’t higher, but man…wait for what is next.

3. Northlanders #49
Art by Massimo Carnevale

There might not be a more gifted artist in comics than Massimo Carnevale. I said it. Month in and month out, everything the guy does is gold. His work is a perfect example of everything you can hope from in comic art. It’s lifelike, but adds qualities to the composition – ethereal color overlays, subtle detail to design aspects, etc. – that make it feel like something that belongs entirely in its own medium like comic art should do at its best. Plus, you have to give the guy props: he uses white space about as effectively as anyone does, and it’s fortuitous that he works on a book that features vikings if only for that reason.

2. Saga #1
Art by Fiona Staples

What?! I didn’t pick “Saga” as the number one for something? Clearly I am ill. Or not in my right mind? Alas, that’s the way it has to be. As I said, it was a rather contentious week for covers, with so much greatness out there, even my newest comic obsession couldn’t take the top spot. But it’s not because it isn’t great. It is. What is Dave Dorman’s greatest nightmare is my most splendid dreams, as  artist Fiona Staples created a beautiful blend of colors, composition and exquisite titling that makes the whole exercise an eminently framable and iconic single image. It’s a beautiful work, and from what I understand, it just gets better from here.

1. The Unwritten #35
Art by Yuko Shimizu

I am an enormous Yuko Shimizu fan. Her cover work on “The Unwritten” has been amongst the greatest we’ve seen in all of Vertigo Comics, and she’s established herself a rabid fan base amidst comic readers simply because of the way she can condense story into a singular image. She regularly makes the list, as you may know.

With that said, this is up against the cover to issue #16 as the best cover of the series to-date, and is a very early contender for the best cover of the year. And my sneaking suspicion is this: when the dust settles, it will be the winner of that vaunted title.

The reasons why are multi-layered. You have the simple fact that this is a gorgeous image of character Lizzie Hexam, crafted with a unique and exciting color palette that leaps off the rack at your local comic book shop. It’s a beautiful, standalone image an uncanny amount of depth to it. But then, when you read the comic and make the comparison between story and cover, you’re blown away by how much she really conveys with this singular, remarkable image. Just astounding work by one of the most gifted artists around, period.


//TAGS | Multiversity's Got You Covered

David Harper

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