DC Comics thinks it’s a good idea to ship five annuals at five dollars a pop the same day. The rascals. We’ll see if we like any of those covers, shall we? This is our weekly column where we pick our favorite and least favorite covers of the week. Debauchery and insults to follow.

Dave’s Cover of the Week

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Journey Into Mystery #642 (Variant Cover)

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Stephanie Hans

Dave: If not for this variant cover I probably would have skipped this book, but now I can’t wait for it. It looks like young Thor and Loki are in for a world of hurt. Very nice layering going on to tell a story: we have Thor and Loki teaming up, a battle raging on behind them between the Aesir and Vanir and a giant flaming demon presiding over the entire dealio. Great use of space on this wraparound cover.

Brendan: I enjoy the layout more than anything. Having Thor and Loki standing back to back really reveals just where the stakes are at. It’s also important to consider how this cover would work on an actual book. It’s a wonder as a full image, but it’s also spaced perfectly to give you a coherent piece of art on both the front and back separately.

Brendan’s Cover of the Week

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Spaceman #9

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Dave Johnson

Brendan: What better way to end things than setting the world on fire? I love the simplicity of this cover. It really tells you a lot without presenting you with too much. The shadowing also really stands out for me. Not only do you have the beautiful silhouettes of our man and child in front of their burning world, but you also notice the shadow of the world itself, as if to suggest that the people are part of some larger plane of existence.

Dave: Some people want to watch the world…sorry. Lost myself there. The play with shadow is glorious here, the flames are sexy and the play of color on the man is beautiful.

Dave’s Honorable Mentions

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Goon #41

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Eric Powell

Dave: I’m just glad this witch doctor had the time to stitch “The Goon” into his top hat. It’s all about the details and this guy knows what he’s doing. Iron eye patch? Sign me up. I also love the contrast of the long hair with the yellow background.

Brendan: This is a single figure done incredibly well, even if it does looks like something you’d see as a sleeve tattoo at a White Zombie concert.

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Diablo #5 (of 5)

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Joseph Lacroix

Dave: Bad. Ass. Love how Lacroix has the blood burning through the snow in a blood river. The axe is intense, the figures are very nicely lined up so that your eye moves circularly and oh god the rats. The rats! It’s easy to miss those rats, which makes them even more frightening. Another great cover to this series’ final issue.

Brendan: I love the red figure. It’s also a great sign when you really need to take some time and study the cover in order to really see everything. My only problem is the purple background face that seems to have a bit of a lazy eye. Maybe that’s a character trait explained within the pages of the book, but for me it’s just off-putting.

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Skullkickers #17

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Saejin Oh

Dave: Everybody knows dwarves can’t swim! Very beautiful work by Oh on this master class painting. They shouldn’t throw the titles on this as it will surely ruin it.

Brendan: I love the colors and the depth. I also enjoy our poor dwarf’s “oh dear” expression as he reaches out in the vast ocean.

Brendan’s Honorable Mentions

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Angel and Faith #13

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Steve Morris

Brendan: For some reason I love the way the figures are drawn here. There is a fluidity to their motion that makes it stand out to me. I also love the creepy swamp background, complete with subtle skullery hidden within the land masses.

Dave: I see what you’re saying here Brendan; the foreground character is winding up with a lot of energy, while the background character is relaxed. Nice back and forth there. The goopy looking skulls are another nice touch.

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Captain Marvel #3

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Ed McGuinness

Brendan: Just in case they really needed to drive the point home for ya, this Captain Marvel is a real bombshell. Despite the lazy gradient background and the somewhat forced insinuation, I think this cover is fun and good lookin’.

Dave: Maybe I’m crazy but all I see on those bombs are titties. Titties all around. I’m just happy to see Ed McGuinness not drawing muscles for once.

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American Vampire #30

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Rafael Albuquerque

Brendan: I’ve been loving on the gothic covers of American Vampire recently. For some reason the red silhouetted objects that appear on each cover really strike a chord with me. Beyond that, the excellent figures and morbid shadowing leave me quite satisfied.

Dave: Forget the doomed look on the girl’s face or even the awesome fluttering red tissues. Look at how many IV bags there are! I like the idea of a vampire needing an endless supply of blood bags.

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B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Return of the Master #1

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Ryan Sook

Brendan: The etchings of wild beasts in the top right is enough to sell me, but when I look down to see an enriched and living town before me, that’s when you realize I’m looking at a good cover. I don’t think the sullen man walking towards us is very inspiring, but the beautiful sunset on this harbor town makes me quite happy.

Dave: The play of light hitting the man’s shoulders is quite good. For starters you can tell it’s dawn and not dusk. It adds a sense of drama, that he’s been up all night and, judging by the blood on the door at left and curb at right, he’s been a very busy man.

WTF? Category

Where we don’t understand, are insulted by or would rather stab our eyes with acid pops than look at these covers for various reasons.

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X-Treme X-Men #2

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Kalman Andrasofszky

Dave: In our (seemingly) weekly tentacle WTF cover we have Dazzler surrounded by tentacles that could otherwise be considered giant tongues. This puts a spin on the tentacle cover since for once they don’t look like dicks. Props for a bit of a change up. I suppose the tongue tentacle is a little more girl friendly? Also, Andrasofszky obviously spent most of his time on the tongues as Dazzler needs some work. Her right forearm is popping out like nuts and her fingers have no nails. Scary.

Brendan: Those arms just ruin my day. Honestly, it’s a sad occurrence when the weird red tongues in your background are the best part of the cover.

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Haunt #26

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Nathan Fox

Dave: I understand this is supposed to be scary…and yes that stuff does look like organs but, and it’s a big but, the way this figure is bent over it looks like she’s puking. The cover doesn’t tell me anything beyond the fact that this issue contains a mess. Not a good way to start.

Brendan: A mess indeed! I’m having problems identifying where, exactly, the face is on this…thing. I mean, I think I see it, but something about the colors and the pencil-work cause it all to blend a little bit too much. That tiny pink circle is the eye, right? I really have no idea what I’m looking at.

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Comics Being Released This Week

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Via ComicList.com. Prices in USD. “AR” = Ask Retailer. Comic availability subject to change.

• BOOM! STUDIOS
• Adventure Time Marceline And The Scream Queens #1 (Kory Bing 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $3.99
• Clive Barker’s Hellraiser #17 (Cover A Tim Bradstreet), $3.99
• Higher Earth #4 (Cover A Phil Noto), $3.99
• Irredeemable Volume 10 TP, $16.99
• Steed And Mrs Peel #0 (Cover A Josh Covey), $3.99
• Valen The Outcast #8 (Cover A Khary Randolph)(Final Issue), $3.99

• DARK HORSE COMICS
• Angel And Faith #13 (Steve Morris Regular Cover), $2.99
• Axe Cop President Of The World #2 (Of 3), $3.50
• B.P.R.D. Hell On Earth The Return Of The Master #1 (Of 5)(Ryan Sook Regular Cover), $3.50
• Goon #41, $3.50
• Mass Effect Homeworlds #4 (Of 4)(Anthony Palumbo Regular Cover), $3.50
• Rex Mundi Omnibus Volume 1 TP, $24.99
• Riven TP, $17.99
• Star Wars Darth Maul Death Sentence #2 (Of 4), $2.99
• Star Wars Omnibus The Clone Wars Volume 1 The Republic Goes To War TP, $24.99

• DC COMICS
• American Vampire #30 (Rafael Albuquerque Regular Cover), $2.99
• Aquaman #12 (Ivan Reis & Joe Prado Regular Cover), $2.99
• Batman Beyond Unlimited #7, $3.99
• Before Watchmen Minutemen #3 (Of 6)(Darwyn Cooke Regular Cover), $3.99
• Detective Comics Annual #1, $4.99
• Diablo #5 (Of 5), $2.99
• Dominique Laveau Voodoo Child #6, $2.99
• End Of Nations TP, $14.99
• Flash Annual #1, $4.99
• Green Lantern Annual #1, $4.99
• Green Lantern Archives Volume 7 HC, $59.99
• Justice League #12 (Jim Lee & Scott Williams Regular Cover), $3.99
• Justice League International Annual #1, $4.99
• National Comics Looker #1, $3.99
• New Deadwardians #6 (Of 8), $2.99
• Phantom Lady #1 (Of 4), $2.99
• Resurrection Man Volume 1 Dead Again TP, $14.99
• Showcase Presents Tales Of The Unexpected Volume 1 TP, $19.99
• Spaceman #9 (Of 9), $2.99
• Superman Annual #1, $4.99
• Superman Family Adventures #4, $2.99
• Supernatural The Dogs Of Edinburgh TP, $14.99
• Young Justice #19, $2.99

• IDW PUBLISHING
• Deadworld War Of The Dead #5 (Of 5)(Cover A Sami Makkonen), $3.99
• Dungeons And Dragons Forgotten Realms #3 (Cover A Tyler Walpole), $3.99
• Ghostbusters #12 (Cover A Dan Schoening), $3.99
• Godzilla #4 (Cover A Zach Howard), $3.99
• Locke And Key Grindhouse (One Shot)(Cover A Gabriel Rodriguez), $3.99
• Popeye #4 (Of 4)(Cover A Bruce Ozella), $3.99
• Smoke And Mirrors #5 (Of 5)(Cover A Ryan Browne), $3.99
• Snake Eyes And Storm Shadow #16 (Cover A Andrea Di Vito), $3.99
• Star Trek The Next Generation Doctor Who Assimilation2 #4 (Of 8)(Cover A J.K. Woodward), $3.99
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Micro Series #7 (April)(Cover A David Petersen), $3.99
• Trio #4 (Cover A John Byrne), $3.99

• IMAGE COMICS
• Debris #2 (Of 4), $3.50
• Grim Leaper #4 (Of 4), $3.50
• Invincible #92 (2nd Printing Variant Cover), $2.99
• Morning Glories #21, $2.99
• Mudman #5, $3.50
• Peter Panzerfaust Volume 1 The Great Escape TP, $14.99
• Prophet #28, $3.99
• Skullkickers #17, $3.50
• Witchblade #159 (Cover A John Tyler Christopher), $2.99
• Youngblood #71 (2nd Printing Variant Cover), $2.99

• MARVEL COMICS
• Avenging Spider-Man #11, $3.99
• AvX Vs #5 (Of 6)(Leinil Yu Regular Cover), $3.99
• Captain Marvel #3, $2.99
• Deadpool Classic Volume 7 TP, $29.99
• Fear Itself Thunderbolts TP, $15.99
• FF #21, $2.99
• Gambit #2, $2.99
• Hulk #57, $2.99
• Infernal Man-Thing #3 (Of 3), $3.99
• Journey Into Mystery #642 (Alan Davis Regular Cover), $2.99
• New Mutants #48, $2.99
• Powers #11 , $3.95
• Ultimate Comics The Ultimates By Jonathan Hickman Volume 1 TP, $19.99
• Ultimate Comics X-Men #15, $3.99
• Uncanny X-Force #30, $3.99
• Web Of Spider-Man #129.2, $2.99
• Winter Soldier #9, $2.99
• Wolverine And The X-Men #15 , $3.99
• X-Men Legacy Five Miles South Of The Universe TP, $15.99
• X-Treme X-Men #2, $2.99

• VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT
• X-O Manowar #4 (Doug Braithwaite Regular Cover), $3.99

• ZENESCOPE ENTERTAINMENT
• Grimm Fairy Tales #76 (Cover A Pasquale Qualano), $2.99
• Grimm Fairy Tales Myths And Legends #19 (Cover A Nei Ruffino), $2.99