It’s been awhile, but hopefully from here on out we’ll be back on track with looking at the week’s best covers. This week had some cool covers, but four in particular really stood out from the pack; three for good reasons and a fourth that stood out for all the wrong reasons. What covers made my list as the best of the week? Well, hit the jump to see, suckas!
So as I mentioned, we have four books this week on the list. Three of them were the best of the best, as far as I am concerned. The fourth was just terrible. So let’s start with the worst of the week and then we’ll jump to the excellent.
Pirate Gambit and pirate X-23…. This thing is terrible. I really don’t have a problem with Laura’s look, but that Gambit is so awful. His pants are reminiscent of some 80’s/90’s workout pants or something. Bad. Bad. Bad. It’s unfortunate that a book that continues to be fairly solid has a cover this terrible. If I weren’t already buying this book, this would have been a deal breaker for me as far as purchasing goes.
Alright, lets move onto the covers that deserve the designation of best of the week. The following covers were chosen because not only did they have art that drew me in but also the overall cover itself was well put together. This includes the logo placement, logo color, creators name placement and things of that nature. To make the list all of these things must be working in unison to make a cover that helps to sell the book to people who are just browsing the comic rack.
The cover art here is stunning. The nuclear theme paired with sunset coloring works perfectly. J.G. Jones really is a master of cover art (if you don’t believe me look at his work on 52). Another thing I enjoyed about the cover is the issue number encapsulated in the circle. That’s a real nice looking way of displaying the numbering. Overall, this is a cover that is carried by it’s gorgeous art.
The only thing that hurts the cover is the logo. It’s a nice looking logo but it’s huge and obscures the view of the nuclear symbol in the background. I also am not a fan of what seems to be the industry standard to just place the creators names free floating somewhere on the cover. I just feel there’s got to be a more creative way to give the creators credit a fluid way of fitting into the cover.
Everything works here. The logo placement to the left of the art keeps everything orderly without losing any of the impact from the art. I also love the placement of the creator names and the issue number at the top, which again keeps the art unbothered.
As far as the art itself, this is a great image that really pops with the white background supporting it. The blood smear that makes a composite Punisher and Bullseye logo is an excellent touch that really pops out and gives the reader an idea of what’s contained behind the cover without saying too much. This cover is all about subtlety and it really works here in a rather impactful way.
Much like the PunisherMAX cover, this one also shines because of the simplicity. All the info is at the top in a condensed space and the white cover with the two figures of Booster and Beetle works extremely well. The cover does a great job of selling the impact of another Blue Beetle dying and the loss Booster feels because of it. I also really enjoy the blues used here for the logo and other areas like the Drawing the Line icon. Dustin Nguyen is a fantastic talent and he proves it yet again here with his simple yet impactful cover art.
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Well, there you have my picks for the week. Anything you feel that I left off? Is there anything here that you strongly agree with or disagree with? If you do, hit the comments section up and we can discuss it.
Now I’ll leave you with the current rankings. If you’re new to this article, the following is the top three artists on the all time list. After every column I recalculate the standings. Next to the artists below you’ll find the number of times the artist has made the list. This time around you’ll notice that because he made it on the list again Dave Johnson once again is tied for third.
1. Adi Granov — 13
2. David Finch — 12
3. Jae Lee – 6
3. Dave Johnson — 6
