All right, after some time away we’re back for some cover action. This week we’ve got representation from the big two. We’ve also got one seriously big name that has never made the list! So what do we have and will it impact the current cover artist rankings? Well, hit the link below to find out.
It’s a handsome cover that has a nice distressed look featuring the personas the Moon Knight title is currently utilizing. The distressed look works well as it gives the potential reader a primer of sorts for the fractured and distressed nature of the title characters mindset. It’s dingy and basic but these things make it pop and make it seem dynamic.
This cover is interesting because it’s for a book called Moon Knight but it’s primary cover image focuses on other characters. Higher tier characters. Unless you’re reading the book you aren’t entirely sure what the hell is going on here. Marvel does. It’s called shock and awe. The artist takes the cover and basically says, “Here’s all this awesome partying at awesomefest right before your very own eyes!”, all while pointing to card carrying pop icons on the cover and then you get inside and find that maybe you’ve been had. It’s that big name potential sell. Money in the bank!
Having said all that it’s an effective cover that utilizes that marketing style of cover. Although it actually doesn’t come across as a shameless misdirection it actually makes you want to take a look inside and find out what it’s all about. It has a draw factor to it because of the pop icon trio like it should but it doesn’t feel like Wolvie, Steve and Pete have the Red Light on to get their pimp Marvelous paid. It will definitely get the book flipped through by potential readers and that’s all you can really ask for from a cover. Let Bendis handle the rest. Not a bad thing to be able to say.
Jim Lee has never made this list. Lee is easily one of my favorite artists of all time and was bound to make the list eventually and this is a great cover to introduce him to the list as it features the new Superman costume. It’s the best I’ve seen the new Superman costume look. While I am still not a fan of Superman ditching his red undies that are actually not so undie, this image is rather striking and badass. It also has robots! Fuck yeah robots!
There are some nice touches here such as Superman’s eyes glowing a faint red as if he’s just finished using his heat vision. Then you scan the image and sure enough there are some robot foes with melted parts that clearly came as a result of some heat blasting action. It’s a very simple piece but it’s fun and says, “Look at me! I’m rad as shit!”. Very rad!
Sometimes you find that a cover doesn’t need a lot. It just needs a legendary artist an iconic character and a new way of looking at them. While this new look is cosmetic on the cover and goes as far as the costume it is a nice precursor to the insides which bring to light a different Superman than the one we’ve come to know these many years.
Props to Superman’s head covering the logo as well. Gives the figure the cheap version of 3-d with the character essentially escaping the confines of his paper prison. It’s subtle but makes a big difference when selling a potentially iconic cover. I mean this is Action Comics #1.
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The first time I saw this I was baffled by how cool the picture was. It instantly sold me on the book. It’s a horrid thing to look at in a great way. You see it and it’s creepy and you can’t help but wonder what the hell is going to be going on in this book. BAM! Issue sold. For me at least.
The less vibrant colors and the contrast of the red against the rest of the cover works extremely well at drawing the eye to the fact that stuff is amiss with the dude on the cover. The gradient color background of dark yellow at the bottom moving into lighter hues at the top has a similar result. The focus of light at the top draws the eye to the red mass and again brings the reader the need to know more.
I really dig this one. Thus making it #1 for the week!
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Ok, that’s a wrap! When this hits I’ll be watching some sweet sweet football action. Feel free to let me know if I missed a cover or if you think my choices are ass. I’m game for discussion. So let’s get to that top of the tops so I can get to sleep.
So for this week we had two newbies and a man that moved up on the list and into a solid 8th in all time appearances. So here we go!
Rank, Artist and # of Appearances.
1. Adi Granov — 13
2. David Finch — 12
3. Dave Johnson — 9
3. Jae Lee – 9
5. Jock — 8
6. Dustin Nguyen — 7
7. Yuko Shimizu — 6
8. Alex Maleev — 5
