Matthew’s Got You Covered (Week of 7/20/11)

Hello! It’s a Matt week of Got You Covered! You know what that means: I write far too much, you skip over it and look at the pictures, then you come back to see Brandon do it.

I’m ok with that.

Check after the cut for this week’s covers. I promise to write far too much.

5. Power Girl #26 by Sami Basri

This cover is just absolutely ridiculous. The issue deals with the “first annual Power Girl convention”, and features a bunch of women dressed as Power Girl fighting for the front spot as the real Power Girl (as we’re led to believe, anyway) fights to get through the middle. It’s humorous and matches the tone that the book has developed since it began with Palmiotti, Gray and Conner. While the issue does lose Sami Basri on interiors, Basri still sticks around to deliver a rather hilarious cover for the book (the best bit is the little girl in the corner staring up at the real Power Girl as if she’s a crazy lady).

The various DC graphics are about typical for what you’d expect from them these days. Logo and issue number in the right corner as well as the credits (which is different from the next cover we’ll discuss), and the bar code in the lower right. There’s a lot going on on this cover, so the fact that they’re pushing things hard into the corners helps keep focus in the center of the book.

Given all the tie-in covers released by the big two this week, it’s nice to have one that’s just catchy for it’s humor.

4. Zatanna #15 by Adam Hughes

Adam Hughes is one of those artists who pretty much only does covers at this point. There are teases of him maybe doing interiors some day, but until I see the issue in stores I refuse to believe it. Until then, we’ll just have to deal with him drawing sexy ladies on the cover of comic books we like – how horrible for us.

This cover for Zatanna is perhaps the most simple one he has done yet for the series. It is certainly the least involved, but in a way that’s what helps it stand out. Where the other covers were cluttered with imagery and magic, this issue of Zatanna is simply white on black. The logo is illuminated with some stars to show Z’s magical nature, and she herself is fairly hidden in the shadows when placed against the backdrop. Truly the only light given this cover is from the logo, and it reflects wonderfully on the figure. What is really remarkable about the cover is if you stick your face in really close (and risk looking like a pervert in front of anyone watching you), you’ll notice the detail on Z’s shirt, a floral print that plays in the shadows and is really quite a detail to have hidden on the cover.

DC has a bit of graphics and labels on the cover in addition to the logo, but it’s not in any way that detracts from the cover. The logo and number are tucked in the upper corner, with credits and the barcode in the lower. Considering the cover is mostly black anyway, it does little to effect anything. It might’ve been interesting to release an “all-black” variant or something, but considering how busy DC is with Flashpoint it’s not a surprise that they aren’t creating multiple variants of smaller titles like other companies do. Either way, it certainly is a very pretty cover.

3. THUNDER Agents #9 by Fiona Staples

As far as cover art goes, Fiona Staples has been slowly proving herself a force to be reckoned with. She has very clearly caught the attention of Multiversity (as you will find out more about next month), and now that the whole “guest cover” bit is done with and Fiona Staples is the regular artist until the series end, we honestly couldn’t be happier.

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Here we have the “maybe spoiler-ish” cover featuring the death of Dynamo, which plays off of an element that Spencer introduced at the beginning of his run in that every team member is fated to die due to their powers sapping their lives away. The cover is incredibly dark and morbid, featuring a skeleton filling the Dynamo costume, but what makes it particularly stand-out is the way that the skull is broken at the jaw, with residue of some kind of glow hovering around the edges. It’s dark, creepy, and foreboding, but the coloring she uses keeps the image light which is a rather stark contrast to what you’re seeing. It plays off very well and, given that THUNDER Agents is an underdog title from DC’s line, it certainly says something that this cover is far more attractive than the other ones DC’s put out this month.

There’s nothing new about DC’s graphics here. As we’ve seen from this DC heavy week, they’re very typical in the way they present all of their covers, keeping them in line to keep their line in line (I hope that sentence makes sense). Logo and issue number in the top left with the credits and barcode stacked away in a corner. What really makes this cover more interesting in the graphic department is the “DEATH OF DYNAMO!” bit, with Death itself being in a different and more kitschy font. Given the books origins from the 60’s and the way Nick Spencer is trying to incorporate the older history of the title and the way it used to be written (i.e. a bit more upbeat!), it’s a nice throwback to the goofier covers of yesteryear that featured issue titles on the cover in a supposedly catchy way to somehow draw more attention to the book. Given that this thing is sort of making a comeback lately, it certainly makes most sense to have it on a title like THUNDER Agents where it makes the most sense.

2. Batman: Gates of Gotham #3 by Trevor McCarthy

Not the last time I did this column but the time before that, I brought Trevor McCarthy into the world of Got You Covered with his second cover for Gates of Gotham. With a new issue of Gates out, McCarthy once again snaps up the second spot in the list. On top of that, all of my original comments from the issue that came out almost a month ago now still remain true: he’s channeling his inner JH Williams III, the entire structure of the cover is gorgeous, and the connection between the outer rims to it’s inner content is just perfect. The way that Batman looms over the city as it’s protector from the Steampunk villain behind him also adds a level to the story from the cover alone, and it’s perfectly reasonable to say at this point that McCarthy is outdoing himself with covers that are better than the interiors (not that there is anything inherently wrong with those).

DC is keeping form one last time here, with all of their credits and logo bits pushed vertically into corners. The second issue saw the barcode laying horizontally, but putting it upright and vertical is a much better use of the space and detracts from far less in a much clearer way. There may be too many Batman books in the market right now, but Gates Of Gotham is certainly standing out among them not just for it’s interiors. It’s nice to see a Batman title from someone other than Morrison and his motley crew of artists that moves away from atypical covers clearly done just to bring in the average Bat-fan and really work with the space that a cover gives an artist to play with. Bravo, McCarthy. Bravo.

1. Daredevil #1 by Paolo Rivera

I’ll be up front: I didn’t like the issue at all. I’m a big fan of Daredevil and I enjoy the dark, gritty, and personal stories that have been told by Bendis, Brubaker, and Diggle over the past decade. This whole “happy” shtick? I’m not buying it – quite literally. That being said, the cover is gorgeous (as is the interior art), and if there was ever a better image that defined Daredevil so well on a #1 cover, I haven’t seen it.

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In the image above, we see the world of Daredevil as he sees it. All of the buildings and birds are made up of the sounds that they make or that are shaping them, really driving home the extra-sensory abilities that Daredevil has due to his blindness. To further illustrate that aspect, Daredevil’s eyes are covered by his weapon-of-choice, which is a fun take on the “justice is blind” motif that the book has had for a long time (all puns aside). While I can’t speak for the plot itself, the cover is absolutely gorgeous. That and the red character placed upon the slightly off-white really give this cover a bold appearance visually when placed against Marvel’s other titles this week, most of which are covered in Fear Itself logos.

The additional bits for the cover are clean and take away from the cover as minimally as possible. The Marvel logo and issue number are tucked away in the corner, and Daredevil’s logo (with the new slogan “Here Comes…” is emblazoned atop in a similar fashion to his logo pre-relaunch. The barcode and more are tucked neatly away in the corner and there are no writer/artist credits on the cover, taking away as little as possible from the cover and really bring it forth as an eye-grabbing red on white cover. No matter if you loved or hated the issue itself, it certainly has a great packaging.

The Blunder of the Week Award goes to Tiny Titans #42 this week, for this: