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David’s Got You Covered (Week of 12/1/10)

By | December 5th, 2010
Posted in Columns | % Comments

This week on David’s Got You Covered, I take a look at the cover offerings from one of the worst weeks in comics in recent memory. From what I’ve read so far, this may actually be one of the worst weeks of the year when we’re all said and done.

Oddly enough, the covers were superb and mostly came from books I did not read. Maybe that is the comic gods telling me something, but either way, it was a nice week in covers.

Check out my top picks after the jump.

5. RASL #9
Art by: Jeff Smith

I’m a complete and utter fanboy of Jeff Smith. I figured I should get that out of the way, and it’s necessary to say. I find Smith’s choices for composition and design to be uniformly superb, and this one is no different. I especially love the fact that this cover does not tie into the action within this issue whatsoever while it also does entirely.

Think about that.

RASL has been a confounding but rewarding series to date, and this issue found RASL’s conversation with the President of an alternate reality he is in and God (that’s right) bringing up frequent touchstone Tesla and his companion at the time of his death. It adds a level of resonance to the cover that isn’t there until reading the book itself, and for that, it gets a ranking here. Nice, clever work Mr. Smith.

4. Freedom Fighters #4
Art by: Dave Johnson

I don’t read this book, nor do I have a lot of interest in doing so. The most interesting thing the Freedom Fighters ever did in my mind was die during Infinite Crisis (fat load of good that did), although I have heard good things about this series.

One irrefutably great thing about this series are the covers from Dave Johnson, a man who is one of the best in the business at covers as well as one of the most underrated.

This is his best one yet for the book, silhouetting the key cast of this book in two color renditions of each of them. Combined with the white background, it makes this book’s cover pop and draws you in at the racks. It almost made me pick it up, but when a cover is so good it can make a non-buyer into a buyer, that’s saying something about the work there.

3. King City #12
Art by: Brandon Graham

I’ve been trying to get caught up with King City for the ending of the series (this was the last issue), but I was unable to do so in time to get a review off. However, I can do this: I can spotlight this fantastic cover.

Whatever you think of Graham’s story or characters or writing or anything else related to King City, it is completely impossible to not say “holy crap” when you look at his art. The man is one of the most hyper detailed comic artists out there, and perhaps the most extravagant with level of detail on interiors since Geof Darrow last graced the pages of Shaolin Cowboy.

This cover finds Joe and his cat Earthling J. Catingsworth III overlooking King City prepared for anything that it may bring to them. It’s a thoughtful and well conceived cover that is perfect for the unknown this issue brings and the unwritten future for the duo as well. Plus, how much fun is it to look around Graham’s art and try and find details that are only there for those who take the time to look for them? A lot of fun, that is the only acceptable answer.

2. Jonah Hex #62
Art by: Eduardo Risso

Continued below

Eduardo Risso is one of the most talented artists in comics, and with his random reappearance in this week’s issue of Jonah Hex, we are given quite the gift. One of those gifts from him includes this incredible cover, one that highlights the cast of Jonah Hex (or so I assume) in a beautifully penciled page that stands out all the more because of the stark white background it is housed on.

While this doesn’t pack storytelling power or anything that I normally weight heavily towards, I can say that this is a cover that jumps off the page to me as a reader and an impulse buyer of comics because the powerful composition Risso provided.

Cover of the Week goes to…
1. Daredevil #512
Art by: Roberto de la Torre

The cover of the week had to go to this work by Daredevil artist Roberto de la Torre. Not because it was touted as the “end of Daredevil!” as it didn’t really bring anything of that sort. Not because of it’s tie to the epic Shadowland story (because it wasn’t really that epic).

Because when you’re thinking of the end of any character, you don’t want to just look at the current state of that character, you want to look at what led to where the character is. de la Torre does so in a really beautiful way, giving us a moody and atmospheric look at Daredevil’s costumes throughout the years, with no human form within them but instead imbued with what looks like the demonic spirit that rode Matt Murdock like a little human pony over the recent history of the character.

While the Murdock/Hand storyline ended with a whimper, this cover shows that at the very least, the artistic power behind the character is still inspired.


//TAGS | Multiversity's Got You Covered

David Harper

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