Welcome to the third installment of Comic Book Cover-Up, where We the Nerdy writer Henry Varona weighs in on his choices for the best comic book covers coming out this week, along with some great honorable mentions! Each week, Henry explain his picks and just what makes them so darn pretty. At the end, he adds up points for each given series, which will work towards earning further accolades in the future!
Point breakdown:
- First-10 Points
- Second-7 Points
- Third- 5 Points
- Fourth and Fifth- 3 Points Each
- Still Gorgeous- 1 Point Each
So without further ado, here’s the week’s best!
5. All-Star Western 28 by Darwyn Cooke (Featured Image)
I’ll be frank here; my main reason for absolutely loving this cover is Darwyn Cooke. Cooke draws Jonah Hex bewildered and out of his element, in a modern day surgical clinic. Having familiarity with the character helps too, as I find myself intrigued to see Jonah without his mangled face. The soft fade on the edge of the image places focus on Hex, and the color choices make this feel very surreal. Is this a dream or is this real? All I know is that I want to open this book up and find out.
4. Dead Body Road 3 by Matteo Scalera
What makes the cover to Dead Body Road 3 so incredible is the layout. The title of the book is a backdrop from which this mysterious man, covered in blood, emerges. He looks deadly, and his impending approach is enough to strike fear deep into your heart. The foreground of the image is just icing on the cake, as we see not only a bloody hook, making it clear we are in a meet packing facility, but a small toy duck. The duck is innocent and unnerving and just the right hint of creepy. Top notch work from Matteo Scalera.
3. Black Science 4 by Matteo Scalera
Matteo Scalera pulls double duty this week with his great cover to Black Science 4. Like Dead Body Road, what makes this cover work is the layout. This is a shot you’d rarely see as a cover. It’s so busy. However, it’s because of this that it works, as all of the elements of the room come together to frame this bizarre man, sitting in the center of it all. It’s offset by the pale yellow sky of the outside world, which is just unrealistic enough to push you away from your comfort zone and inquire into this man, who is so clearly in his. Tony Stark, eat your heart out. We have a new ladies man on the prowl.
2. Fantastic Four 1 by Alex Ross
Alex Ross is back at Marvel and the time off has done him some good. Fantastic Four number one is a new direction for Marvel’s First Family, but Ross brings it back to basics for his cover. Highlighting their origin by showing the four of them launching into space only to be bombarded by cosmic rays, Ross frames the shot with the mugshots. They’re all looking up, to the future, just as the book aims to. But what impresses me most is Ross’s technique. The lighting caused from the rocket carries over to the four, and they shine with an intensity they rarely receive.
1. Dead Boy Detectives 3 by Mark Buckingham
Now THAT is unnerving. For Dead Boy Detectives 3, artist Mark Buckingham takes the titular characters and overlaps their eyes with the skull of a skeleton. In doing so, three things happen. First, the boys faces are completed. Second, the skeleton has eye balls. Third, the image chills you to your core! Dead Boy Detectives was a book far from my radar, but Buckingham’s proof of concept has me hooked on this book now. I want to know more about this book, these boys, and this skeleton. And if that doesn’t make a great cover, a single image that transforms your views on a book, I don’t know what does.
Still Gorgeous:
- Teen Titans 28 (Steampunk) by Jason Pearson
- The Flash 28 (Steampunk) by Howard Chaykin
- The Flash 28 by Pasqual Ferry
- The Wake 6 by Andrew Robinson
- Justice League Dark 28 (Steampunk) by Tommy Lee Edwards
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