The Best of the Week in Covers – 05.16.2012

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? A one. A two. A Covers. Covers.

 The Shadow #2

By Jae Lee and Ryan Sook

Scarves don’t usually…not everyone knows how to make them look sinister. But…the Shadow knows. And so do these guys. Edge to Lee for an unnerving portrait that, appropriately enough, relies on shadow to conceal all but the most important aspects of our hero’s grim countenance.

Avengers vs. X-Men #4

By Jim Cheung

Really like this composition for a number of reasons. Characters overwhelm the logo instead of the other way around. Cheung also plays with the series’ face-off motif, but at this stage in the game it’s asymmetrical, with mutants and Avengers mixed together on either side of the image. Then you’ve got the bright light of Hope singled out at center with a simple and elegant use of color.

 

Saga #3

By Fiona Staples

 It’s a little gutsy draping a child’s intestines over your book’s logo. It’s a striking color choice too. And I can’t get over the face. Girl be trolling.

 

The Incredible Hulk #7.1

By Michael Komarck

We entirely sure this isn’t Alex Ross? Okay. Well. Duality. The classic Jekyll and Hyde  image. It’s extremely melodramatic, so only a rendering this meticulous and lofty could make it work. It’s positively operatic in its posing, spectacular in its lighting. Love those shafts of light boring through the jungle canopy.

 

B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth – The Devil’s Engine

By Duncan Fegredo

It’s rare in horror to come across something wholly different and unexpected. I look at this image and am taken aback at an imposing new monstrosity. The horror broadens with the introduction of a modern train, suggesting a vast, global canvas. Encroaching dread.

 The Shadow #2

By Alex Ross and Howard Chaykin

Hey, more Shadow. Again, two more approaches with two different tonal flavors. Absolute chaos and a throwback kind of globetrotting vibe. Edge to Ross for the muzzle flair busting open the monochromatic image like a gouge in the plaster.

Comments

  1. AVX’s covers have all been good fun. And I really like Saga’s logo as much as anything else.

  2. That Saga cover looks a lot like Molly from Runaways.

  3. that Saga cover is unnerving as all hel

  4. The cover for Shadow #2 by Francavilla was also really great as well. He posted it on his blog earlier in the week, although I think it was one of those super rare variants.

  5. Perspective is off in that Hulk cover.

  6. I’d put that Hulk cover in a frame. So awesome.

  7. The Shadow covers are great. Yes he made scarves sinister….great point. haha.

  8. Garth Ennis is writing The Shadow? I didn’t know this. Cool! Anyone know if it’s worth picking up?

    Interesting selections this week. That Hulk cover is breathtaking. The drama captured in those poses. Wow.

    Lee’s Shadow cover is my favortie of the four Shadows, but Ross’ is pretty decent too. I’ve come to expect more from Sook. Not sure what Chaykin’s doin’ here. Nothin special goin’ on there. But then again I don’t think I’ve ever liked a single thing I’ve seen him do, so maybe it’s just me.

  9. So, the owl in that Tootsie Pop commercial….he was kinda being a dick, right?

  10. Good picks, but my favorite this week is saucer country.

  11. Love the first of The Shadow covers by Lee & Sook!

  12. That Hulk Cover is amazing. I liked the Winter Solider cover.

  13. Jae Lee is one of the best cover artists period. Also, the BPRD and Lobster Johnson series have had plenty of original covers lately, BPRD isn’t typical or even just horror. The Long Death mini (BPRD Hell on Earth before this one) had some interesting covers, particularly the one with the light coming through the trees towards Johann Krause.

  14. BPRD: County Pickens Horror was the Hell on Earth mini before Devil’s Engine, before that The Long Death, covers were good.

  15. Oh and that Hulk cover is beautiful, I’d frame that one.

  16. paul, best of the week in covers is always one of my favorite articles each week. i always look forward to seeing what beautiful or funny covers have come out each week and because of that i find myself going back to my comic shop and picking up a title that iv seen based on these articles, if the cover is that good. so thank you good sir.

  17. I also did a double take when I saw that Hulk cover. It looked so much like Alex Ross I thought he was using a pseudonym.

    Also, and it might be a tiny bit hyperbole, but I find that to be one of the best images ever to represent The Hulk. Make a live-action poster of that for the new Hulk movie.

  18. Saucer Country easily had the best cover this week.