These covers are the Kobe beef of comics covers. All artists involved were massaged daily and fed copious amounts of beer. The results? Sublime.
Young Avengers #1
Cover by Jamie McKelvie
It’s gonna be difficult keeping Ms. America Chavez out of the Best Covers feature throughout 2013. The swagger can’t be denied. It can’t. All this particular cover is missing from its spectacular tokusatsu aesthetic is some high impact kanji and an anthropomorphic onion.
Batwoman #16
Cover by J.H. Williams III
Gorgons with memento mori pupils will always get me hot and bothered. There’s a little bit of a King Ghidorah thing happening too. But it all comes down to the simple truth that this dude can effing draw.
The Massive #5
Cover by J.P. Leon
How much do I want Ben Affleck to direct and star in this series, hell, this cover? This much. I’m holding my arms out real wide.
Uncanny X-Force #1
Cover by Olivier Coipel
Puck is standing on many phone books, otherwise this combination of Coipel’s typically spectacular line work and a fun strawberry kiwi color scheme really hits the spot. Many spots in fact.
The texture and lighting in this image are just phenomenal. I mean, look at his scalp. The gloves. The blade of the katana. And yet, it isn’t photo-real. It’s stylized. But it looks just right. How you do that, Ricken?
Young Avengers #1
Cover by Bryan Lee O’Malley
Bryan Lee O’Malley should do this comics thing far more often. Stay hydrated.
I made the trip out to the ol’ LCS to pick up Young Avengers, fully intending to get the regular cover, but they had a copy of the variant and I could resist. It was only double the cover price oh gods now I’m part of the problem.
*coudn’t resist, rather.
Double? Not that I don’t love the thing. But, man, you can look at the cover all day on this page!
Maybe I can get it signed one day! You don’t know!
Double? My store was selling the O’Malley on the shelf, regular cover price . . .
Same here 3 bones for the O’Malley cover at my LCS.
Yes! Paul, you are onto something. I would love to see The Massive through the Affleck lens.
Just as long as it doesn’t star Tyrese as Mag. But seriously, J.P.Leon is a cover genius. He did some beautiful work for Wood’s DMZ and is a big reason I went back and collected all the floppies. It’s too bad Wood is so busy because he does some awesome cover work too. I haven’t read the issue yet, is that Mag in Callum’s sunglass lense??
Can I just say how hard it was to chose a cover for Young Avengers this week? When I entered the store, I was planning on the variant, but the more I studied McKelvie’s, the more dynamic it appeared. Plus, I love the expression on Loki’s face, so perfect . . .
Glad to see love for that Batwoman cover, a lovely image . . .
I normally dig O’Malley’s neotenous cartooning but this cover seems (mildly) creepy to me. From my perspective the characters are rendered too young and kawaii for the context. O’Malley seems to have intended for the image to be a little provocative which doesn’t work for me. Maybe a solid familiarity with the characters (which I don’t have admittedly) would allow one to conceptualize them as adults despite the cartooning style; so I’m not putting down anyone who likes this cover.
The McKelvie cover is great. It has an uber-Mondrian quality that really appeals to me.
I really like both Young Avengers covers, but that Batwoman cover is even more impressive.
I can not even explain how much I love Kid Loki on the O’Malley cover.
Heck yes. He is SO PUMPED.
I didn’t really care for the X-Force cover in the solicits, but something about seeing it flipping through your stack really makes it pop more somehow. Coipel is a beast, and the color scheme is really fetching.
Hell Yeah! New cover artist is looking good…plus this is one hell of a story…
Does anybody else notice a Steranko influence in a few of these covers? Pretty cool.
I really like the Scotty Young cover for Young Avengers.
I dance the same way Loki does.
Now I’m sad…