Welcome to the thirteenth installment of Comic Book Cover-Up! Every week, 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 worth checking out! Looking at the layout, artistic talent, and the overall craftsmanship, the covers are analyzed and ranked accordingly. At the end, each book will be given points based on their ranking. Then Henry adds up points for the various series, which will work towards earning further accolades in the future! Here’s a point breakdown for what every ranking will earn:
- 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. Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man 1 by David Marquez (Featured Image)
There are three main reasons why this cover stands out to me. First off, it is the classic “hero shot” of our lead looking over the ledge of a building at his city, ready to leap into action. It shows Miles as Miles, and makes it clear it isn’t Peter. Secondly, it is reminiscent of the Amazing Spider-Man poster, flipping the shot around to show his back. It is very good to make that connection, however far-fetched it may be, because it makes me more familiar with the book and more likely to buy it. But my favorite part of this cover is that it made me see a detail I have never noticed before. Miles’ costume has a spider sliding down his back, hanging by a thread. This image is ridiculously cool and I had always just thought the spider hung there. Realizing an old detail makes this great.
4. Earth 2 23 (Batman ’66 Variant) by Mike Allred
Mike Allred is one of the top artists for achieving that “vintage” flair that is so popular for variant covers. For his Batman ’66 Variant to Earth 2, he creates an image that immediately separates itself from the competition by being shockingly surrealist. The placement of the planets in the background of the image creates an eyeball effect, staring down on the old Justice Society of America. In addition, seeing the old Justice Society is a refreshing change of pace, but having their platform be the actual finger of the Spectre is really cool. It’s such a weird amalgamation of images that creates something straight out of the 1950’s in the best way possible. I’d read this book.
3. Black Widow 6 by Phil Noto
Phil Noto creates a loving homage to a spiderweb with his cover to issue six of Black Widow. We see our lead, cast in flat colors, tied up in chains. But the chains form a web, with great detail that show every individual link. Furthermore, we have Black Widow being beaten by a set of six separate hands, which all hit her body in such a way that at a glance you would think that she has eight arms. There is a lot of illusion here that works very well together. Through it all, Black Widow looks ready to challaenge the world, despite her predicament. When she breaks free, she is going to make her captors pay.
2. New 52 Future’s End 1 by Ryan Sook
The cover to the debut issue of The New 52 Future’s End by Ryan Sook is not unlike a classic movie poster. Showing us a lot while telling us very little, we see Batman Beyond taking on robots, a new Firestorm soaring through the sky, and Grifter taking aim. They’re all ridiculously cool looking, coming off as some of the greatest heroes you could imagine, yet none of them are marque icons. DC is placing a lot of faith in this series if they are going to headline the first issue with a picture of Grifter on the cover. Ryan Sook very nicely lays out their images over one another, so that they intertwine without interfering. Explosions and adventure wait in this series and this cover conveys that clearly.
1. Detective Comics 31 by Francis Manapul
Francis Manapul is one of the greatest Flash artists of the last 20 years, so watching him transition over to Batman was going to be a process. I knew he would have to adjust his style for the Caped Crusader. Not only was I wrong in thinking it would take Manapul a few months to hit his groove, I think that his cover work for Detective Comics far outweighs anything he did on Flash. His cover for issue 31 shows that nicely. It features Batman as a part of a tiger’s face, surrounding by teeth with outreaching hands raised. Batman is playing it cool in the shadows, but this tiger looks like a major force to be reckoned with. The best detail is the way that Batman’s cape fades into the details of the tiger, and how he forms the nose. It’s just cool.
Still Gorgeous:
- Cyclops 1 (Baby Variant) by Skottie Young
- Madame Frankenstein 1 by Christopher Mitten
- Nailbiter 1 by Mike Henderson
- Revival 20 by Mike Norton
- Woods 1 by Paul Duffield
Thanks for checking us out! Come back next week for more!
*Side note, this marks a quarter of a year of Comic Book Cover-Up! WOO!*
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