Monday, November 21, 2011

Art Attack: February 2012's Coolest Covers

-Jonah Hex should fight giant bats and whatnot 24/7. Anybody remember when he was in that post-apocalyptic future? Me neither, but they should try it again.

-For my money, that's Adam Hughes' most inventive and inspired cover of his Batgirl run thus far. The snow filter adds a lot and seems like it motivates him to raise his game overall.

-I love when Georges Jeanty goes high concept on Buffy. I also love that logo.

-Captain America and Carnage U.S.A. are a pair of covers that stand out for being disturbing for completely different reasons. With Cap, Alan Davis takes a familiar, reassuring icon and subverts him, taking away the physical prowess we count on Captain America to display, though he's still clearly got his strength of will displayed in a more subtle way. Clayton Crain, on the other hand, just knows how to make Carnage straight up creepy with muted colors and horrifically twisted features.

-Fear Itself: The Fearless #7 is the current wallpaper background on my work computer.

-I'm only one issue in as far as reading the new Flash series, but the writing aside (and it's pretty solid), Francis Manapul conveys the ideal of what I imagine the character to be through his visual images better than anybody in recent memory. And when I say "the character," I'm not talking about Barry Allen or Wally West or any other single person, I mean the concept of The Flash, the kinetic energy of which he seems to have distilled down perfectly.

-What the heck is going on in Nathan Fox's Haunt cover? I dig it.

-I keep saying how the design for the new Venom seems to bring out the best in every artist who draws him, and it holds true even for a legend like Art Adams working on Secret Avengers. Can't wait to see that cover in full cover.

-You don't see sound effects on covers enough--well-played, Kaare Andrews! And that's a strikingly pretty Ultimate Scarlet Witch as well.

-Venom, Red Hulk, X-23 and the new Ghost Rider are a pretty quirky group, but Stefano Caselli makes them look like they belong together.

-Lee Bermejo all day long, man. He draws the hell out of just about anything, but dang, that's one bad ass Winter Soldier. Hot Black Widow too. And hey, Gabrielle Dell'Otto draws a nice Winter Soldier too. Kudos to Steve Epting on a great design.

-Lot of guys doing great work this month, from Adams to Andrews to Simon Bisley, but Bermejo gets the slight nod as my artist of the month.

ALL-STAR WESTERN #6 by Ladronn
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #679 by Mike Del Mundo
BATGIRL #6 by Adam Hughes
BATMAN AND ROBIN #6 by Patrick Gleason
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON NINE #6 by Georges Jeanty
CAPTAIN AMERICA #8 by Alan Davis
CARNAGE U.S.A. #3 by Clayton Crain
CONAN THE BARBARIAN #1 by Becky Cloonan
DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS #6 by Ryan Sook
DEATHSTROKE #6 by Simon Bisley
FEAR ITSELF: THE FEARLESS #7 by Art Adams
THE FLASH #6 by Francis Manapul
GLORY #23 by Ross Campbell
THE GOON #38 by Eric Powell
HAUNT #23 by Nathan Fox
HELLBLAZER #288 by Simon Bisley
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #6 by Mikel Janin
NEW MUTANTS #37 by Kris Anka
PENGUIN: PAIN AND PREJUDICE #5 by Szymon Kudranski
SECRET AVENGERS #23 by Art Adams
THE SHADE #5 by Tony Harris
SIX GUNS #5 by Butch Guice
SPACEMAN #4 by Dave Johnson
SUPERNATURAL #5 by Dustin Nguyen
ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #7 by Kaare Andrews
ULTIMATE COMICS X-MEN #7 by Kaare Andrews
VENOM #13 by Stefano Caselli
WINTER SOLDIER #1 by Lee Bermejo
WINTER SOLDIERS #1 variant by Gabrielle Dell'Otto
WINTER SOLDIER #2 by Lee Bermejo

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