5. The Secret History #20
Art by Philippe “Manchu” Bouchet
I love the look of the French school of cartooning, and the pose, vibe and general demeanor of this character at the front and center of this cover is all about the French school. It reminds me of a Luc Jacamon designed character, just loaded with personality. Combine that with the blended photo in the background, the excellent usage of the blacked out bars for titling, and the titling itself, and you have a very well conceived, premium cover from Archaia, a company that is excellent at putting out product of the highest quality.
Art by Ken Garing
Yeah, this is the type of cover we see all of the time. Hero in the foreground, possibly bad guy in the back. Posing. Posturing. Doing comic book like things.
But what takes it to the top is Garing’s stupendous ability at turning an ordinary concept into a masterful composition, blending and massaging color to turn this piece into a stellar, singular image. Sure, it’s something we’ve seen before, but it is undoubtedly a superb example of it.
Art by Amanda Conner
Two things I have to give the Before Watchmen books credit for: the incredible quality of the paper they’re printed on and how they blend the Before Watchmen and sub head into the covers. What worked well with Minutemen worked really well here too.
Not only that, but you have artist Amanda Conner doing a phenomenal job on the cover using the same concepts as she did on the inside: the varied style, the spectacular colors, the storytelling. That image in itself is the story of Silk Spectre II, boiled down to its core. I love it when a cover artist can do that, and after this issue, my already high opinion of Conner has taken a leap upwards.
Art by Dave Johnson
The awesome of this cover is hidden in the background – “Steranko.” Dave Johnson does a killer Steranko impersonation – namely from his Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. work – with this cover, but in a very humorous fashion. If Steranko was cover Deadpool today, this would undoubtedly be the type of thing he would come up with. What better compliment can we give this book?
Art by Brian Wood and various
I’m unsure as to who various is – that’s who is credited besides Wood – but man, this is a gorgeous cover. Brian Wood books uniformly have great covers, and this is one of the more fully realized, tightly composed ones yet. I love the blending of titling with the moon, the unrealistic realism of the lower image, the textured top with the compass degrees spraying outwards of the moon, everything. Even if I didn’t intend on buying this book already – I had – I would have been undoubtedly convinced when I came across this cover on the racks. Everything about it screams “quality.”
