This week on David’s Got You Covered, our look at the best Covers of the Week, we’ve got a hotly contested battle for the top spot. In fact, I even changed the top spot a couple times, until I finalized on what I really, really think is the best of the week from what is probably the best comic of the week. What could it be?
Find out after the jump.
5. Justice League: Generation Lost #13
Art by: Kevin Maguire
Sometimes a cover doesn’t have to be a uniquely designed cover. It doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel. It can just be a powerful image that works thanks to the simplicity of it. Kevin Maguire’s cover to this week’s issue of the bi-weekly Justice League: Generation Lost, as it shows the villainous Maxwell Lord looming over an unknown gravestone (that has sun shining down on it), drinking from a bottle of champagne and smoking a cigar (a look for him we’ve come to get used to).
Full disclaimer: this cover could be more powerful with knowledge of what happens inside of this book, but I have not yet had a chance to read it. Sigh…still, great work Mr. Maguire.
4. The Unwritten #19
Art by: Yuko Shimizu
Continuing that full disclaimer, I haven’t read this yet either, so there is a distinct possibility that this cover could work even better once the details inside are revealed (as we often get with Yuko Shimizu covers – she is absolutely incredible).
Any way you look at it though, it’s another stunner from Shimizu, showing our hero Tom Taylor as he holds a copy of Moby Dick close to him while inside the skeletal system of a whale underwater. I know that this issue finds Tom trying to consult the “source” of storytelling, that just so happens to be Moby Dick (I believe), so it makes even more sense. It’s just a gorgeously composed image that is fitting very well into the other 18 covers she has done. Here’s hoping Vertigo does what they did with James Jean’s Fables covers (and hopefully Jock’s Fables covers) and makes a nice coffee table book out of them.
3. T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1
Art by: Frank Quitely/Darwyn Cooke
This is cheating because I am lumping both covers for Nick Spencer and CAFU’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents debut into one spot, but they both work so well that they are impossible to separate.
First off, you have the Frank Quitely cover that was included on most copies (not pictured). This works for a lot of reasons, namely the fact that Frank Quitely is just a remarkable artist with a powerful style with clean lines and a real sense of composition. Everyone knows he’s incredible. The fact that it’s an homage to the first issue of the original T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents series makes it all the better.
Then, you have the Darwyn Cooke cover. It’s another homage (or at least according to the comments from the DC: The Source blog post about the book), and it’s just a classic look at these characters. The thing I love so much about Cooke’s style is it very much seems like a modern spin on Golden and Silver Age art styles, and with a book that has origins from that time period, this is my favorite of the two covers if I had to select one. It’s just a gorgeous cover.
2. Batgirl #15
Art by: Dustin Nguyen
You’re not supposed to judge books by their cover (or so they say), but in this case, I threw caution to the wind and did anyways. I bought Batgirl #15 entirely because of this absolutely astonishingly gorgeous Dustin Nguyen cover. It doesn’t tell a story and it really, really looks like the cover to a first issue, but in some ways, this issue did feel like a first issue as it allowed new readers to jump in and understand right off the bat.
Continued belowNguyen’s composition of this scene, depicting Batgirl (Stephanie Brown) in an absolutely stunning fashion, illuminated by elegant watercolors and rich detail as the hulking city of Gotham surrounds her, is probably the one cover I would buy to frame if I could from this week. From a singular image standpoint, this is the best, and it would probably be one of the best of the month or even year because it is just beautiful. Sadly for it…
Cover of the Week goes to…
1. Chew #15
Art by: Rob Guillory
Rob Guillory’s cover to Chew #15 is so damn good. This cover, in a lot of ways, tells the story of the first 14 issues (and even part of 15) if you look at it with an analytical eye. Body language reveals the nature of relationships of the characters, little details like what Mason Savoy has on his fork speaks volumes, and so do the dead bodies that litter the front of the table (as Poyo picks through them).
Obviously it’s an homage to The Last Supper, but it’s one of the better ones I’ve seen as it does so much with the image at hand while getting a ton of play from other details: namely, the location (the Gardner-Kvashennaya International Telescope from issue #4) and the details. Brandon and I go on and on about Rob Guillory’s attention-to-detail in this week’s 4 Color News & Brews, but when you really look around this image and look at the notes on the wall it brings your mind back to 52 with Rip Hunter’s chalkboard and the clues that led to.
With this issue kicking the book into a bit of a new direction after an issue filled with shocking turns, this is a perfect way to do it. Rob Guillory, you are the man, and for that, you deserve cover of the week honors.
