Last week I forgot to do this column. In turn, Burpee beat me with a wooden stick and told me that if I didn’t do it this week, I’d be fired. I don’t quite understand that because I’m the Editor-In-Chief, but I don’t want to be fired.
Check behind the cut for this week’s picks.
As a note, I am dropping the part of the cover analysis where I talk about the graphic design of the cover since, really, I say the same thing every single time. I feel like I’m more qualified to talk about art than I am logo placement. So unless it is otherwise relevant, we’ll just stick to the art part.
Teen Titans has become quite ridiculous. It’s safe to say that, upon the news that his run would be ending sooner than expected, JT Krul decided to just go all out for the finale. No matter what you think of the interior content, though, but the idea of the book – that all of the Teen Titans now have to face up against their “perfect matches” – translates perfectly to a pretty great cover.
The cover features all of the opposites for our rag-tag team of heroes in a nicely lined up parallel fashion. It’s certainly a classic format for a cover; these type of designs have existed since before I knew what a comic was. What helps make this special is Nicola Scott’s rather pitch-perfect rendition of the characters. These are the Teen Titans after all, and Nicola Scott brings an incredibly youthful look to all of the characters, both hero and villain. It also happens to outshine the interior artwork, of which Scott’s contributions are greatly missed.
We love Fiona Staples’ work here at Multiversity and all highly anticipate her collaboration with Brian K Vaughan (SAGA from Image Comics), but until we can get that we’re more than happy to have covers for THUNDER Agents, which just happens to be one of our favorite DC books.
Staples’ work here is a great set-up for the finale to come within the issue. With the Iron Maiden and her former beau lined up in the background as their memory reflects over the events of the issue and what is to come for the THUNDER Agents, as our main characters stand awaiting the unknown future. While Fiona is not doing interiors, giving her the covers keeps the book as one of the top books in DC’s line-up, especially when placed on the stands against everything else.
Batman and Robin has become a curious little book since Morrison left, become a place for random stories that supposedly can’t be told anywhere else. Such is the case with this week’s finale, where David Hine comes in to remind us that Nightrunner is a character that exists while condensing what should have been a three-part arc down to a damn good one-shot. While Greg Tocchini’s interior art is pretty great throughout the issue, it’s the cover by Chris Burnham that really caught my eye.
Featuring a surrealist jam of art taking over the world of Batman and Robin, the cover is a pretty pitch perfect summation of the issue itself. The Son Of Man looks in the center overseeing his work while Robin breaks apart and Nightrunner is stretched apart to infinity like liquid – both of which actually happens in the issue. Burnham’s character design is absolutely wonderful, and the cover he’s created is the exact kind of cover you want: one that shows and tells you exactly what is going to happen in the issue without spoiling a damn thing. It’s too bad that Hine couldn’t do more issues, because I would’ve loved to see more Burnham covers like this.
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Mike Mignola’s Hellboy finale has been in the works for a long time, and now that it’s here we’re not sure how to feel. Personally, I’m both excited that the finale was amazing, but I also didn’t want (spoiler alert!) Hellboy to die. However, since I am not in control of his destiny, I will instead take a fantastically written book with a great cover. Mignola has always been a fantastic artist, but he is more than a formidable cover artist, with all of the Hellboy covers for the Fury (including Francesco Francavilla’s variant cover) being quite wonderful. Hellboy: The Fury #3 stands as quite the effective tombstone for the titular character, and we’re given quite the powerful farewell.
Now, while Duncan Fegredo has been absolutely killing it in the art department for Hellboy, there is no one who illustrates Hellboy quite like Mike Mignola. Mignola invented the character, and he will always look best under Mignola’s pen. Mignola’s “farewell Hellboy” cover is certainly not the emotional powerhouse that is our #1 spot this week, but Mignola’s “final” cover is still a great tease towards the finale. It’s one of those things that is foreboding before reading the issue, but makes even more sense upon understanding the finale. It’s a cover that spoils the events without telling you anything about what is to come, and that is the most clever kind of spoiler imaginable.
Batgirl may be ending, but Miller and friends are certainly going out in style. While Dustin isn’t finishing his original run as interior artist, that doesn’t stop him from pulling out a great final cover to wrap everything up nice and even.
In this final cover, Dustin has assembled a fitting farewell tribute to Stephanie and all her friends that perfectly encapsulates the mood of the book. All the characters who have had a role in the book since it’s first issue show up to wave her off as she swings off into the unknown, not knowing when she’ll next be seen. The entire mood of the image is light hearted, keeping an otherwise unwanted finale (in that we don’t want the book to end) with a happy ending as opposed to a sad one.
While we miss Nguyen on interiors, his cover certainly helps see Steph off into the unknown as well as Pere Perez and Bryan Q. Miller’s interiors. We’ll miss you, Ms. Brown.
The Blunder Award of the Week goes to Marvel Comics, for putting a barcode over one of the characters on the Ultimate Fallout #5 cover.
Poor form, guys. Now I’ll never know who that was supposed to be!
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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 — 8
Tune in next week for more eye candy.
