Most comic book fans have a solid idea about what they’re going to buy every week as they descend upon their local comic shop. With that said, there’s still a lot of fun to be had just glancing at the week’s new releases and taking a chance on a book that looks promising, funny, scary, etc. That’s where covers come in. A fantastic image can make the difference between trying something new or saying, “Nah, not this week.”
In that spirit, here are the covers that captured our attention this week, with entries from comics editor Chris Coplan. This is Judging by the Cover.
Fantastic Four #10
Cover by Alex Ross
If you know anything about Judging by the Cover, you know I had to pick Alex Ross busting out some super elegant body horror. Honestly, he’s been drawing the most regal and sophisticated superheroes for decades, and it seems only right he occasionally to gets a little extra weird. Maybe he was just waiting for the right series, and the latest Fantastic Four run seems perfect. The whole of issue #10 seems focused on The G.O.D.S., a group of alien refugees who, after a series of mechanical failures and other mishaps, kick off a gnarly horror story in space. (There’s way more here, and who knows how F4 exactly is involved, but we arrive at the point we need to: space horror.) As far as being the most horrific and also the most robustly sci-fi, Ross is once again our man, depicting a scene as if written by some horrible hybrid between Ray Bradbury and Junji Ito. Maybe the designs themselves aren’t exactly innovative (giant mound of muscles dude and the living circulatory system), but the depth, scale, precision, and intensity of Ross’ work here really takes the scary and dropkicks it into the realm of truly horrific. Even something as “simple” as a flaming skeleton feels all the more gross and foreboding just from the emphasis and angles that Ross employs, showing us that perhaps what we fear isn’t just the human body gone afoul but what that looks like stripped of some comical undertone. Ross is known for his pristine heroes, but he’s just as good as get down and dirty and super weird.
Kaya #10
Cover by Wes Craig
As a rule, I love the aesthetic that writer-artist Wes Craig has cultivated with Kaya. He’s managed to combine kid’s cartoons, fantasy, a post-apocalypse thriller, and so much more into a truly potent blend that feels welcoming and almost quaint while never feeling any less robust and maybe even a tad dangerous. The covers from Craig, especially, have been especially important, and the last nine issues have featured a distillation of the book’s potent mix of ideas and influences. But the cover to #10 feels different somehow — decidedly more psychedelic and focused on the metaphysical over the normal blend of super colorful action/adventure. That makes sense as Jin is “lost in a dark and dangerous realm,” but I think it’s more important than the cover being mysterious or less direct than the others. Really, I think this cover plays up the tension at the center of this series, that uncertainty of not only magical-tinged adventuring but how our young heroes have very little clue about what lies ahead and how their lives will go. The cover, specifically, seems to track Jin in such a way that we see him moving through an uncertain path, actually watching as the various “versions” of himself walk, capturing that sense of momentum while portraying how a few different angles and approaches can change the way each “version” feels. In short, a great kind of visual metaphor that lets this cover stand out and also connect back to the story in a way some of the more initially “interesting” covers can’t or won’t always achieve.
Knight Terrors: Batman #2
Variant cover by James Stokoe
Even if you’re hit or miss about most of the Knight Terrors event, you have to admit the Batman book’s pretty solid so far. As evidenced by the main cover to issue #2 (from Guillem March and Tomeu Morey), there’s a dang Gun-Bat/Bat-Gun that’s only a small tip of the horror iceberg waiting in the story proper. Yet I just had to go with this James Stokoe variant cover. I mean, I almost always will given the maddening levels of detail here — Stokoe is a master at precision work that always feels really unassuming and thus perhaps all the more effective. And, sure, there’s lots of super bright colors here, a dash or two of humor (that car seriously screams “Pinto” energy somehow), and basically more cheese than pure bloody madness. But there’s no denying that there is some real “dark” energy here, and not just from the legions of bats and dusty skulls all around and the fact that Batman looks like a decaying bat himself. No, I think it’s the way all those ideas and energies interplay here — the mood and tone shifts depending upon where you look, and it all even shifts again as you move back across the image. The end result isn’t necessarily confusing but instead this rush of sentiments both spooky and silly, and it deep-fries the brain in that valley with some truly lethal efficiency. Not everything scary has to be turned up to 100, and sometimes it’s the little touches of humor and light that make a moment all the more harrowing.
Conan: The Barbarian #1
Variant cover by Roberto De La Torre
In our interview during this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, writer Jim Zub made a really great point about the new Conan: The Barbarian series (where he’s joined by artist Roberto De La Torre). Specifically, given the character’s long history in comics, this book is trying to both satiate long-time and even lapsed fans as well as hook a new generation of readers. And I can’t think of a better way to do this than by just making everyone who might be on the fence spend a few minutes with this variant cover from De La Torre. For one, De La Torre is, as one League of Comic Geeks user noted, a “John Buscema clone or something[,] man” — and there’s no denying that the approach and scope of his work has an essential connection to that legendary artist. Yet De La Torre’s also his own artist, and there’s an added oomph of rage and intensity here that I think is perfectly suited for a “new” era of Conan — one that speaks to the specifics of our time and informs the energy and multifaceted tone of Conan. (Which is to say, the same kind of fantasy blood and brutality, but with something that also feels a little more measured while emphasizing something even closer to horror that’s big now but wouldn’t have been as essential to earlier Conan tales.) All in all, I think it’s an effective way to bridge the gap between fans of all backgrounds and interest levels, and to do something novel without disconnecting that robust legacy of Conan’s many high adventures.
Project Riese #1
Cover by Jeff McComsey
On the surface, I think Project Riese could be a lot like some other comics interested in the occult, horror, and life amid/just after wartime. The book follows Sam Safdie and his “ragtag group of treasure hunters” as they seek a map to the Owl Mountains, leading them to a “massive war complex that hides both unknown horrors and a fortune in gold.” Where I think the book begins to set itself apart, and rather smartly I’d add, is the main cover from series artist Jeff McComsey. Is McComsey’s style distinctly cartoonish? For sure — and that makes so, so much difference in playing up some of the deliberately cheesy and playful undertones of the series. It’s not just about war and horror but there’s some real heart and humanity here, and the cover needs to play up the balancing act, as it were, from the moment people land upon it. Still, I think that even as some of the horror elements here also feel quite silly, that doesn’t mean they’re not any less horrifying. It sort of reminds of projects in the Tromaville “universe”: that hyper-effective blend of influences old and new, cheesy and dark, silly and serious can do a lot to engage and affect readers while pushing certain genre boundaries and tropes. Again, this is only the cover, and there’s so much more of the world to see and that could push things one way or another. But for now, the approach here is fun and free and utterly affecting.
Paklis #7
Cover by Dustin Weaver
Paklis, if you’re still not aware, is Dustin Weaver’s personal anthology. It’s here where he tells stories of varying genre interests and general focuses; issue #7, for example, continues the “tech-noir mystery” titled “1949.” And from that approach, Weaver gets to blur all sorts of lines and play with other tropes in a way to tell some truly compelling stories. Even then, the covers can be a great story or massive feature in and of themselves. I’m assuming the central focus is “1949,” and Weaver manages to capture the feel and tone of that story in a way to hint at the many ideas and influences at play here without oversharing or even ruining some of the grander magic in the story itself. But I think what works about the covers, and that’s especially true for #7, is that it’s a great kind of master class in what makes Weaver a really novel artist. The sheer detail and depth, for one — everything has such crisp precision while feeling alive with a certain warmth and charm. Or, his design choices; he blends different genres and themes together by finding a way to balance the ideas to create something new that’s just familiar enough to the ol’ human eye. Even the color choices here speak volumes about Weaver’s ideas about how to build these worlds and the way they exist. Paklis is a little peek into Weaver’s mind, and it’s almost always a big-time adventure.
Magneto #1
Cover by Todd Nauck and Rachelle Rosenberg
In his very long career, Magneto has been a lot of things. Hero and villain; mentor and menace; revolutionary and terrorist. That dichotomous nature seems to be at the heart of a brand-new story from the legendary J. M. DeMatteis (alongside Todd Nauck and Rachelle Rosenberg). The narrative promises to “show [how] Magneto Was Right…from a certain point of view” when he takes over a teaching position for the New Mutants. And so, rather obviously enough, Nauck and Rosenberg’s cover for issue #1 shows the two sides of Magneto, and how he’s split between his work with the Brotherhood of Mutants and his sometimes bratty students. But more than that, this cover doesn’t just show the dueling nature of Magnus, but how he does it (in a way). It’s the stern intensity, a dash or two of theatricality, and an endless well of passion that defines Magneto. It isn’t just that he can’t make up his mind, but his many efforts, which are often hard to track, are ultimately about some larger mission. That could be the betterment of mutantkind, or even something only Magneto knows — either way, he knows exactly who he is and what he needs to do, and that’s always compelling. No matter what Magneto is up to in any given story, it’s this moment that exemplifies what he’s all about: strength and commitment, and he’ll do whatever to reach his goals. That’s the sign of a proper character with a long and deeply important history.
Knight Terrors: The Joker #2
Cover by Stefano Raffaele
I am once again of two minds for the Joker-led tie-in for Knight Terrors. It’s a little too predictable to think that Joker’s biggest nightmare is being a total normie. But writer Matthew Rosenberg (who is no stranger to the Clown Prince of Crime) and artist Stefano Raffaele demonstrated in the first issue that this isn’t as direct of a story as you might assume. Rather, a lot of the power was in the shape and details of the story, and how it created a tension and a certain level of emotional unpredictability to make this story more than it ever could have been otherwise. That very idea holds true as we peep the cover to issue #2 from Raffaele. Because, again, eating a TV dinner would be the sort of thing that makes Joker scream bloody murder. But look at the angle of his hair; the state of the room (especially the couch); that exaggerated features of the “Nightmare Batman”‘ and even the dang drink — all of it together alters our perception. In a world where things are meant to be off, you can’t shake the feeling that something is truly off, and that’s more terrifying than any real nightmare scenario. It fosters a tension and sheer level of discomfort that enhances the scenario and makes it truly novel. It’s not always about reinventing the wheel, but doing a story that affects people regardless with as much brutality and depth as possible. Also, is Joker eating tiny pigs in blankets with a fork?
Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories #7
Cover by Tom Fowler
Sure, the Marvel-published Star Wars comics are pretty well known, and rightfully so. They’ve done great work in growing and expanding the universe, especially as it pertains to Darth Vader. But over the last year or so, Dark Horse Comics has been putting out Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories, which is basically an all-ages adventure throughout the many nooks and crannies of this robust universe. For issue #7, we turn to the unsavory work of Boba Fett, who finds himself battling a “gang of ruthless Trandoshan hunters” while defending his client. Cover artist Tom Fowler does a bang-up job depicting the madness and chaos of Boba Fett battling against the odds, fostering an air of pure intensity and overwhelming energy that’s never any less easy to follow. The Trandoshans look properly frightening, with just enough of their own personality to stand out while reinforcing the whole “we’re a giant mob and we’re going to rip apart Boba Fett” vibe that’s crucial for this tale. Fett himself, meanwhile, manages to look particularly cool and sleek while engaging with the odds — it’s a dynamic that fosters all that great terror and doubt while keeping Fett the badass he’s always been. It’s a case where I’m drawn time and time to the faces here and that I pay almost zero attention to the massive flames encroaching on this mega-fight, which seems like a proper victory. I’m almost certain I know the end result of this duel, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be any less absolutely epic.
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