Comic Book Cover of the Week! 11/13/13

Welcome back fellow nerds to the another installment of the Comic Book Cover of the Week! For anyone not familiar with these article, here’s how it works:  Each week two-three fellow writers on We The Nerdy, will pick out their cover of the week. Each will discuss why he/she thinks their cover is worth noting, mentioning style, detail, use of colors and general aesthetic appeal. Joining me this week is Jake Morris and Jerrod Gensman.

Three #2 

Amazing use of colors here, Ryan Kelly and Jordie Belliaire do a fantastic job. The bright yellow covering the majority of the spartan on display contrasts very well with the solid black background and the use of red emphasizes the violence and blood. This series is made to shed some light on a different side of Sparta, typically glorified and portrayed as heroes fighting for freedom. In this, we see them from the perspective of their slaves which in turn show the darker side of the city-state. I feel that the cover perfectly captures that idea, showing how violent and brutal the Spartans were. The blood drippings are also a theme that was shown throughout all of issue one, every time we saw a flashback to an event dealing with the Spartans, the panels were covered in blood drippings. Most likely eluding to the bloody and violent nature of how they generally deal with problems. The pencil work with the Spartan and the slave is also fantastic, reminding me very much of the kind of rough approach that artists like Alex Maleev are really known for. Overall this cover really does it for me and I’m really enjoying the series so far.

X-Men: Gold #1 – Jake Morris

It is the fiftieth anniversary of Marvel’s loveable mutants, the X-Men, and this special little issue offers up a mixture of stories from a handful of creators. If the names attached to the stories are not enough to capture a reader’s imagination; Chris Claremont and Walt Simonsen, then Olivier Coipel’s cover design should well and truly sell it. A mish-mash of different decades, Coipel’s cover features a splendid cast of fan favourites and iconic characters. What makes the cover as good as any other character collage that has come before it? The rich history and varied looks that have always been distinctive in the X-universe are assembled beautifully by Coipel on the cover. Everyone from Cyclops to Jubilee are postured in a pose that captures their character to a tee. There is even a nice little cameo for Lockheed but let’s also not ignore the great inclusion of a 90s X-Men cartoon vibe. It can only be hoped that the interior work is as good a tribute to the mutant menace as the brilliant cover art.

Harbinger #18 – Jerrod Gensman

Holy streaming amounts of blood Harbinger, that is gross.  My pick of the week is for Harbinger #18 because the cover is just plain awesome or disgusting or both.  Now I’ve been reading Harbinger since the re-launch of the title and I still have yet to figure out why the bleeding monk won’t stop bleeding.  He went through a pretty tragic moment a really long time ago and since then he just seems to keep bleeding.  The only good thing, I guess, is that it appears that he has a never ending supply of blood to just leak out everywhere.  As with the cover design, I love how the monk’s blood flows into Peter’s head which then forms the outline of his brain.  Most of the series is based on people having their powers unlocked from their brains, hence the name Psiots.  And of course the monk and Peter both have psychically based powers   I also really love the use of the muted colors and the red from the blood being the primary focus point of your eyes.  What also catches my attention is the contrast in colors from the red to the ice blue skin color of Peter and the Monk.  Almost like they are bloodless and pale with the only blood being what is pouring into Peter’s brain.