That said, congrats to all of the nominees! Now, find my thoughts after the jump.
The Contenders (ordered most likely to win to least likely)
Marcos Martin (Daredevil, Amazing Spider-Man)
There are a lot of reasons why Martin is going to win, but I’ll start with the big one: this just feels like the year of “Daredevil.” As a book, it earned a ton of nominations, and Martin’s covers are simply a huge part of the overall package. They provide a joyous, beautiful kickoff to many of the issues, including issue #7 that I share above. Look at that thing? Yeah, he’s going to win it, and it will be hard to argue with that.
Francesco Francavilla (Black Panther, The Lone Ranger, Archie Meets Kiss)
Our boy Francesco is the only one I think that could possibly take this from Martin. With good reason: not only did Francavilla do a great job on every cover he worked on, he did a CRAZY amount of them. 2011 in many ways was the year that Francavilla became an omnipresent presence in comics, and this would be a great way to represent that. While I think Martin will win, Francavilla is a great dark horse.
Sean Phillips (Criminal: The Last of the Innocent)
Phillips doesn’t have the nomination power behind him like Martin or the volume factor like Francavilla, but he does have the whole “holy crap, look at those Criminal covers from him” and the cachet that comes with his name. He’d be a deserving winner…I just don’t see him as a likely one.
Michael Allred (iZombie)
Don’t get me wrong – I love Allred. The guy is one of my all-time favorite artists, and I’m a big “Madman” and “X-Statix” fan. That said, Allred to me feels like the least deserving of the nominees, less because of his quality and more because there were just so many great nominees that were left off the table. That said, he does some remarkable covers on “iZombie,” and when this book ends, it will be sad not to see monthly covers from him on the racks.
Yuko Shimizu (The Unwritten)
Finally! Yuko gets a nomination, as she should. Her covers to “The Unwritten” are amongst the best in the industry (she’s my second favorite cover artist), and she deserves way more love than she gets from comic audiences. For me, out of the nominees, I absolutely believe she should win. I really don’t think she will, but I do believe she should. I’m just stoked that she got the nomination though. Very well deserved.
Viktor Kalvachev (Blue Estate)
This was the biggest surprise of the lot, but not something that is poorly received by yours truly. I’ve been speaking the gospel of Kalvachev for a while now, and his “Blue Estate” covers are just flat out amazing, inventive and beautifully composed. The guy is a huge talent, and it seems like every issue of the book brings a new and amazing offering to the table. He never disappoints, and I love that voters recognized that with this nomination.
Continued below
The Biggest Snub (and the should be winner): Jock
I’m not even going to go any further than saying “look at that cover.” Seriously. Look at that. Between his “Detective Comics” covers and, my personal favorite, “Scalped” covers, this guy shouldn’t just have earned a nomination, he should have won. Period. I’d share more snubs, but man, just the fact Jock didn’t get nominated again means there is work to be done in this category.
