Hello! I have returned to Got You Covered to talk about covers! While you read this, I’ll be on a beach somewhere lounging about like a bum and reading comics. So ask yourself: if I’m on the beach, how did I write this? It’s a mystery! (Cue LOST logo.)
Check after the cut for this week’s covers. I promise there are less mysteries.
DC has been doing its best to push Hex, and while I only know a few people who read it, they certainly have interesting ways to get the title out there. Currently that inclueds a rotating artist scheme for one-and-done stories, with this month’s artist being the wonderful Jeff Lemire. This is arguably the most simple cover of the week, but in a way that’s what makes it stand out the most. Featuring two heavy tones of color and one isolated image, the uniqueness of this cover helps nail it the number 5 spot for this week’s covers.
Featuring a vulture perched atop the head of Jonah Hex, Jeff Lemire just absolutely nails the character. I’m not a big Hex fan by any stretch of the imagination, but from every image of him that I’ve ever seen, this is Hex. Lemire brings the grittiness of the dark cowboy to life, and the vulture at the top adds to the imagery with a fair amount of symbolism both to the nature of the character and the contents of the issue. It’s a great teaser for what’s to come.
On top of that, the design folks at DC do a great job of taking away from the image as little as possible. The logo is behind the bird, the creator names are neatly placed to the left, and the DC logo, issue number, and bar code are all neatly placed in the corner. It allows for the background – which is made up of nothing, mind you – to really draw the readers eye towards the title with its sharp color scheme.
I’ve been unabashed with my praise of Maleev before, giving him a spot in this column for a previous Moon Knight cover. Is it that surprising that his next Moon Knight cover makes the list? (It shouldn’t be.)
This cover highlights Bullseye, a character that Bendis and Maleev had worked on previously in their career-making work on Daredevil. Maleev brings Bullseye back here with a wonderful image highlighting the character’s darkness as he stands illuminated in shadow with light peeking out from behind him. His holding of one of Moon Knight’s weapons outstretched towards the cover and the sai – which has its importance to the issue – enhance the imagery further. It’s also one of those things that become better after you finish reading.
The additional graphics don’t take away from the image at all. The Moon Knight logo is placed behind the sai (and similarly, kind of humorously), with the Cap movie logo nicely in the corner and not obstructing anything in the form of a gratuitous and obnoxious banner (this is how you do it, DC!). It almost frames Bullseye in a way, but the important aspect is that nothing is taken away from the original Alex Maleev image – and that’s a damn good thing.
While it’s slightly different from what was originally teased, Dave Johnson’s cover for the Batman tie-in of Flashpoint is easily the Flashpoint stand-out this week, even beyond the main title of the book. Haunting and striking, the cover is a creative play on the elements to come within the title, some of which only fully make sense when you finish the story and discover the twist (unless you’re a wunderkind and figured it out last month).
Continued belowThe ghostly visage of the “new Joker”, as it were, covers the book with the smeared clown lipstick spilling off into smoke at either sides. The Joker is known for his violence and insanity, and the messy application of this smokey facepaint, countered by the bleeding J carved into the skull, really bring out the dark elements of Azzarello’s story here. Having Gordon star at the bottom of the cover firing his gun off adds a hint of crime/noir to the tale as well, which is an element that additionally feeds into the title. It’s a beautiful tease of what’s to come like a classic movie poster from a lost age.
The additional graphics from DC do a good job of not encumbering the image. While the bar code could’ve been placed on the right side to take away as little as possible from Gordon, the Batman logo sits behind the skull with the Flashpoint logo, DC logo, and number/price point all sitting neatly and lined up along the top and the left of the cover. There’s a lot of black space at the top in which to place these things, and it allows the glowing white of the skull to stand at the front and really grab the readers eyes against the contrast of the cool blue behind it. A good composition between graphic designers and artist.
I wasn’t originally going to buy Vengeance. I was on the fence the entire trip to the comic store, but by the time I got there and saw the cover, I decided that this was something I’d like to have in my collection. That right there is the power of the cover revealed: without even looking inside, the presentation was good enough for me to decide that this was probably a comic I would enjoy, and thus it is now sitting in a pile in my apartment waiting to be given a bag and a board and a home.
From a visual standpoint, this is a wonderfully put together cover. Dell’Otto’s Magneto image here is very coyly detailed, offering up a realistic perspective to Magneto’s otherwise unrealistic attire. While the original image is cut off here from what was originally solicited, the impression that he is throwing metal out at the reader, to the reader, is still understood.
On top of that, the presentation is neat and clean. VENGEANCE is emblazoned at the top in black against white, and at the bottom we get a quote from the book to tease the darkness of its interior. Everything is placed neatly across the bottom center in a very clear cut way that is attention grabbing and stylized, helping this cover to stand out even further amongst the masses.
David Aja should be no stranger to this column, yet somehow this is first appearance. How appropriate, then, that he nails the top spot? His covers are often quite beautiful, usually perfectly stylized towards the title that it covers. Red Skull: Incarnate, for which Aja provides all the covers to, is certainly no exception – and that’s why it earns the number 1 spot this week.
The book acts both as a historical drama and an origin story, placing its first issue in the heart of Hitler’s rise to power. This was a time of heavy propaganda, and the cover to the issue – let alone the series – seeks to capsulize this element. Aja’s cover features the Skull’s head looming over what appears to be a city under siege, both in a way that foreshadows the Red Skull’s future destructive path as well as well as acts as a propaganda poster similar to actual war imagery from the time, thus making it that much more of a devastating piece. It’s looming, it’s foreboding, and it’s absolutely stand-out. Every cover in this series is fairly brilliant, as one would generally expect from an artist like Aja.
Continued belowAja also gets the opportunity to essentially design the cover from the ground up, being in full control of the title logo, barcode placement, and creator credits. It allows for him to be in complete control of the presentation, thus helping to make the cover that much more sleek. It’s great when an artist is given full creative control for the presentational purposes, similar to Francesco Francavilla’s Dark Horse covers for the Mignola-verse, and thus Aja wins the week in covers.
Blunder Award of the Week goes to ME for forgetting about the cover to Ozma of Oz #8 by Skottie Young until after I had already written up this entire column.
Seriously. Look at that. It’s a gorgeous image for the title, and I don’t know what was wrong with me that I didn’t remember it sooner. However, my poor stubborn ways make me too headstrong to delete one of the write-ups I have already done, so instead I choose to hoist myself upon my own baton and simply declare: what a cover!
Sometimes I really disappoint myself.
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That’s it for this week’s Got You Covered. Here are your weekly stats, based on appearances on the list:
Adi Granov – 13
David Finch — 12
Dave Johnson — 9
Jae Lee – 8
Jock — 7
In an absolutely shocking turn of events (as earlier noted), it turns out this is David Aja’s first entry into the column. Additionally, Dave Johnson moves up one spot, knocking down Jae Lee and coming after David Finch like nobody’s business!
Tune in next week for more eye candy.
