This week on David’s Got You Covered, we’ve got a nice week of covers as well as a rare feat: no cover I considered bad enough to grace with the Rob Liefeld award this week. But there were more than five covers that could have earned a ranking this week, but only five could make it. Who made it?
Find out after the jump.
5. The Lone Ranger #24
Art by: John Cassaday
John Cassaday is about as guaranteed as you can get in terms of turning out striking and well composed covers in comics today. This cover doesn’t mean much to me as I’m not a reader of The Lone Ranger, but damn if it isn’t gorgeous. Everything about it is well crafted, pairing the foreground and background images to make it a dynamic and well designed image. Standard material from Cassaday, but that is enough to rank week in and week out.
4. Sweet Tooth #14
Art by: Jeff Lemire
While I’m not entirely caught up on Sweet Tooth, the power and meaning behind this image is apparent to even a casual fan. With Gus and the other hybrids attempting a bold escape, Lemire crafting a cover with his hero as the biggest in a series of nesting dolls, wide open and awaiting the other hybrids to join him in the escape. It’s a simple and elegant design, and something that is quite powerful and original.
3. Strange Science Fantasy #4
Art by: Scott Morse
Whenever Scott Morse has a cover, he’s going to make this list. His covers are as big of a throwback as the book itself, combining a Jack Kirby look with a pulp book design to alternately tell you what the book is about AND be an effective standalone art piece that sells the book well. And it’s just awesome – we keep praising this book on and on, I hope you’ve all started to realize that this book is just ridiculously good and has earned the praise we’ve poured upon it. The covers are now different.
2. Scalped #41
Art by: Jock
Jock is the absolute best in the business in my mind, providing 41 straight covers on Scalped at only the highest levels of quality. It’s a James Jean esque run, and this issue’s cover provided no change to the unwavering quality. This image depicting a broken up baby doll covered with war paint and ceremonial items is a remarkably powerful and sad image. It ties in perfectly into this current arc, in which parenthood is the topic at hand with Carol’s child on the way and Dash’s father back in town. It is a beautiful image that ties into the story within the pages, and that is exactly what I look for in a great cover.
The “James Jean Award” for Best Cover of the Week goes to…
Wolverine #2
Art by: Jae Lee
This thing is just Jae Lee doing what Jae Lee does: creating intense and moody images that jump off the comic stands to you. This image shows Wolverine showing down against a bevy of enemies, as everyone from Sabretooth to nazis are with him in hell waiting for a piece of the ol’ Canucklehead. This issue perfectly shows what is happening inside the book – a major scrap between Wolverine and all of his greatest enemies – while providing a cover to lead the book that matches the quality that is inside its pages. While it doesn’t rate super high on my James Jean scale, it’s still a very nice cover.
Rating: 2 Brilliant Covers out of 5
