Brandon’s tied up this week, so it’s my turn to take a look at the best covers of the week. I’m not going to lie: I’m glad he’s out this week because there were a ton of great books that exemplified the power of the cover very well. I mean, it’s a week in which Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon’s exceptional Daytripper doesn’t make the Top 3, and this was a damn good cover from one of the best in Ba.
Check out my picks after the jump, and chime in on what I missed in the comments.
6. DMZ #56
Artist: John Paul Leon
Why it’s #6: John Paul Leon has been a frequent contributor to the covers of DMZ, and this one has to be a personal favorite. In this current arc, Brian Wood is telling a series of one-shots about various characters and where they are in the DMZ currently. This issue focuses on Chinatown’s ruler Wilson, and Leon’s cover exquisitely states what we already know about Wilson without needing words. Chinatown’s Ghost Protector (as the issue title nicknames him) can slink through any place in the DMZ unmolested and fully comfortable. He’s the unspoken leader, the man who can turn anything into his favor.
I’d love to know what the Chinese symbols on the cover mean as I’m sure they would just add additional weight to the exercise, but they work extremely well even as design additions.
5. Justice League: Generation Lost #7
Artist: Cliff Chiang
Why it’s #5: This cover is very successful from two different measures: first off, I simply adore Cliff Chiang’s figure work. The guy has an amazing gift for pairing simplicity with power in a way quite unlike what many artists can never accomplish. Additionally, the design of this cover is brilliant in that it tells the story of what happens in the pages in a very simple fashion. By layering the Checkmate symbol on top of the illustration of the reassembled JLI charging at the camera, Chiang conveys to the reader that this is the JLI vs. Checkmate. It’s pretty remarkable how simply he tells that, and I think that’s where the power of this cover lies.
4. Daytripper #9
Artist: Gabriel Ba
Why it’s #4: Given that I haven’t had the ability to write or talk about this series this week, part of the reason I wanted to add this book in is simply because it is about as good as anything you’ll find in comics today. Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon’s mini-series has been wholly unique and emotionally powerful throughout, and as the end approaches it just keeps getting better and better. This cover from Ba fully shows that, showing lead character Bras up to his chest in a liquid of some sort and surrounded by a stark white and a bevy of wind socks caught in local gusts. You could argue that the image is dreamlike, which makes more sense and becomes more powerful after you read the issue.
Plus, I am a complete sucker for watercolors, especially in the way Ba used them. Beautiful, beautiful work.
3. Locke and Key: Keys to the Kingdom #1
Artist: Gabriel Rodriguez
Why it’s #3: This issue was my surprise of the week, as I picked it up on a whim based on some tweets I read and was fully stoked about the experience. Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez threw down a tribute to Calvin and Hobbes this week, but in a dark and occasionally grisly way. The cover may just be a beheaded sparrow holding a key on a windswept (save a few paw prints) snow plain, but it speaks volumes. This image tells the tale within the story in glorious simplicity, and as soon as I saw the cover I knew that this was a purchase worth making. Not only that, but it grew in power after I read it as well, as a cover should do.
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2. Strange Science Fantasy #2
Artist: Scott Morse
Why it’s #2: Scott Morse’s Strange Science Fantasy is Brandon’s favorite new book of the year, and I’m really, really digging it as well. This cover exemplifies the awesome very well, giving us a throwback to covers of yesteryear that touts the book with hilarious one-liners heavy on alliteration (“Far-Fetched Feudal Fireworks!” — yes, please), using type sets that merits an emotional recall in your average comic reader, and is just all kinds of kick ass. I mean…”The Shogunaut has Landed!” has to be the best four words a person could choose to sell me a comic, especially when combined with the obviously fiercely powerful Shogunaut lording over the Earth on the cover. It’s beautiful work from Morse, who quickly is becoming one of my favorite creators out there.
1. The Unwritten #16
Artist: Yuko Shimizu
Why it’s #1: Yuko Shimizu has been the unheralded third titan in The Unwritten engine for a long time, never getting the same mega praise that her cohorts Mike Carey and Peter Gross have, but having earned it with her consistently phenomenal covers. With that said, just like the way this book managed to leap to an even higher level with this month’s issue, so did the cover.
Shimizu’s choice to illustrate Wilson Taylor as a man in the sky, acting as a puppeteer to the actions below him who uses only strings powered by the written word to control things, was a brilliant one. Like any great cover should be, it shouldn’t just be a beautiful image but actually something that tells a story on its own. In many ways, this cover tells exactly what we find out within the pages of the comic but only if you open your mind up to the subtleties Shimizu presents to us. Simply gorgeous and intelligent work.
