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.
Venom #29
Cover by CAFU
There’s a lot working toward Venom having become a rather self-involved, decidedly harder book to access by more casual fans. For one, it’s written by Ak Ewing, and he’s amazing as heck but still someone who can easily take a book in strange and daring directions. From there, it’s taken Eddie Brock, made him the King in Black, and then had him undergo even more changes and/or transformations. And that’s not even discussing the book’s big bad, Meridius. But forget all those layers of lore and just focus on this great cover from CAFU. Is there a dope image (i.e., a Black Suit Spider-Man-looking lead) for casual fans to gravitate toward? Heck yes. Is there a proper villain, but also one that has some clear (i.e., visually obvious) connections to our hero? You know it! And does it just ooze a kind of robust coolness and intensity? Heck, that choice of red alone more than facilitates this. So, sure, if you’re coming in fresh, you may be lost a bit. But you’re getting everything you need to want to put in the work on getting caught up on a generally solid book. Boom, comic magic!
Conan the Barbarian #6
Cover by Jae Lee
The best artists tend to be like a influence quilt. Which is to say, you can sort of see what ideas, images, aesthetics, etc. shaped their work, but the thing that really matters is that they’ve made something magical (and maybe a tad comforting) that’s still entirely their own. I think Jae Lee is a really great example of that, and his cover to Conan the Barbarian #6 exemplifies that and then some. Because I can see some clear old-school fantasy elements here, with the exaggerated lines and overt sense of drama. At the same time, though, Lee’s got an approach all his own, and he captures something almost otherworldly about his subjects that flirts with the uncanny valley for the most devastating of final results. You might also see tinges of something like old-school manga, but even that feels like its been remixed and filtered so many times that Lee builds from that aesthetic canon into something all the more strange and robust. Whatever you think you see here, Lee’s crafted a look and feel that’s all his own, and any feelings of familiarity are instantly blown away by his truly singular style. A pioneering approach that really imbues this new Conan book with the heft that our favorite barbarian deserves.
Birds of Prey #5
Cover by Leonardo Romero and Jordie Bellaire
I’m no artist, but as someone who has used his eyes for nearly 38 years, I certainly know what looks and feels best. And when I look at the cover to Birds of Prey #5, I feel a little conflicted. Because, as our own coverage would attest, colorist Jordie Bellaire (alongside artist Leonardo Romero) put in real work across the title, and that continues with the intense, eye-grabbing cover to issue #5. Once again, the super pulp-y vibes and overall stylishly cartoon-y approach work really well; I think from day one it’s been a way to define this specific team and their unique mission statement. At the same time, though, the weird deity figure, mixed with the assaultive green color that dominates the page, feels decidedly less sleek and sexy. If anything, I feel like we’re being confronted head on by the art team, and it’s a nice change of pace that maybe speaks to the specific development as the team continue to save Sin from the Amazons. That green is a super powerful choice, and it takes the cover to the realm of horror for just a second, and that tiny decision has heaps of impact. Define it how you want, but my eyeballs dig it.
Paklis #0
Cover by Dustin Weaver
Paklis is the brain-child of writer/artist Dustin Weaver — a place for him to craft the kind of wonderfully weird, very specific tales he has cooking up in his brain. And that’s extra true of this #0 standalone issue, which promises “super-hero action, space opera, space comedy, cyberpunk, slice-of-life, and hard-boiled anthropomorphic mice.” Oh, and did we mention ’90s action galore? At least that seems to be the case given this cover from Weaver, which feels like some lost version of a WildStorm title if it were co-published by Fantagraphics. I’ve spoken a ton across Judging by the Cover about why I both love and abhor the ’90s comic style; it’s over-the-top and edgy, yeah, but too much and it can become a bad satire of itself. In Weaver’s capable hands, there’s all that grit and heft without any of the overly ridiculous tendencies — if anything, he can make “tiny rat P.I.” somehow feel really serious and almost sexy, and that just speaks to the core of this book’s interests and how those reflect in more subtle and thoughtful creative decisions. Maybe there’s not enough pouches, or throbbing biceps, but this is one ’90s homage that feels both genuinely xtreme and actually engaging.
Unnatural Order #2
Variant cover by Joshua Hixson
If you didn’t read issue #1 of Unnatural Order, you may be a little lost. And even if you did, you may still have a hard time balancing these two pillars of gritty action and over-the-top dark fantasy that have smashed together on the page at roughly 125 MPH. Still, that means everyone’s coming to this variant cover from Joshua Hixson with similar levels of confusion and uncertainty, and that’s a generally good thing. Because that’s sort of what this book is all about: smashing the reader about the head and chest with something familiar and entirely novel, and leaving us trying to sort exactly what happened and what it all really means (aside from looking and sounding totes cool). The book will certainly do a lot to try and meld these two worlds into a tight and poignant story that will have us reevaluating our understanding of meta-centric storytelling and the power of fables in our own lives (and maybe some other important tidbits to boot). But in the meantime, this cover feels like a really weird, slightly tenuous tease of what this book is trying to do, and a powerful way to get us thinking about how stories are made and what they mean for those of us who pick them up.
Savage Red Sonja #3
Cover by Dan Panosian
Red Sonja turned 50 years old last year, and that’s a massive accomplishment for any character. That said, I can’t say that I’ve always loved some of the covers across the hero’s various comics appearances — they often feely overly sexual and as if you could somehow boil Red Sonja down into such a singular image. But the latest ongoing series, written by Dan Panosian, is trying to be a markedly different kind of story, and I think that’s abundantly clear in the Panosian-drawn cover for issue #3 of Savage Red Sonja. For one, Sonja doesn’t dominate the cover; she’s almost barely there, like a slightly more obvious version of Where’s Waldo. And while that alone should feel like a markedly powerful decision, it’s what’s around Sonja that matters. It’s a whole g-d town — and one that feels a little steampunk-y in nature, too — and that shows how this book is trying to build the world and lore around Sonja as well as showing that she’s got a clear role to play beyond “really hot warrior.” Sure, red dominates this marketplace just to show you who this book is really all about, but there’s so much more life and depth here, and that really enhances our hero in some novel ways. Whatever else happens in this series, I feel like this cover is a snapshot of how Sonja can and does stay fresh after all these years out maiming and adventuring.
Batman #141
Variant cover by Felipe Massafera
Batman #141 represents the end of the high-energy “Mindbomb” arc that’s seen some rather big changes for the Dark Knight. After months of internal strife, and pushing the limits of how far he’ll go to truly save Gotham City, Batman finds himself stuck between a rock (Zur-En-Arrh’s mad machinations) and a hard place (the continued chaotic threat of The Joker). And as far as extra compelling depictions of this dire situation are concerned, you can’t do much better than this Felipe Massafera variant cover. Batman is literally being swallowed alive by his foes, and he’s practically drowning. (Also, the kind of vaguely old-school cape and cowl feel like a really nice touch that plays with the grander history of the Caped Crusader.) That, and The Joker’s tongue is an actual snake, which somehow feels both actually possible and still a little unsettling (not to mention a nice, likely unintended shoutout to this cartoon moment). Even little details — the puffy gums, the teeth that feel and/or loom like guillotine blades — just add new layers and bits of nuance to this extremely desperate situation. Sure, Batman escapes most sticky situations, but this one already seems like it’s going to be a proper challenge.
Fantastic Four #15
Cover by Alex Ross
Alex Ross is no stranger to Judging by the Cover. The man’s a legend for a reason: his covers add so much depth and intent to the various books they grace, and he’s got an ability to blur nostalgia and the future in some really novel ways. But even with that already massive bibliography of big-time hits, this cover to Fantastic Four #15 feels extra novel. Is it mostly the fact that he’s made a giant brain and eyes feel like a proper ’50s B-movie villain? Yessum. But it’s also the retro-spacesuit sheen of the team’s uniforms, which somehow feel like yet another part of a good-bad ’50s movie as well as something from the collective closet of Devo circa 1983. It’s just as much the insert of Alicia Masters, the veins on the Thing’s arm for some reason, the expert use of neon, and even the arc of the lightning — all of it together just feels more absurd and weird than Ross’ usual efforts while still feeling just as romantic and grandiose in nature. The end result is a decidedly unique piece, and one that feels perfectly aligned with this very good, very weird chapter of the F4. Comics just needs more giant floating brains, OK?
Pine and Merrimac #1
Cover by Fran Galan
OK, I get it: the debut cover of Pine and Merrimac isn’t exactly something to write home about. (Are you like me and do you talk about comics covers to your family of non-readers/fans?) But this is one that I’ve gotten to read weeks ago, and it’s sat with me ever since, and I just had to mention/talk about the cover to issue #1. Because writer Kyle Starks and series/cover artist Fran Galan have created a generally thoughtful and engaging piece of crime fiction, one that explores and plays with relationships to devastatingly powerful ends. And this cover not only captures that — putting the focus right on our duo of former MMA fighter and former detective starting their own P.I. business — in such a simple but deeply effective way. It feels almost sitcom-y in its vibes and intentions, and that really tells you the kind of structure at play here even as the series takes it into new and more interesting directions. It also feels a little like a more approachable Twin Peaks (or something in that vein) — which is a good association if you’re building a proper noir tale (even as this book is so much more difficult to truly pigeonhole). If nothing else, I hope my own dissection shows you just how interesting this book really is, and why you need to get this one pronto. That, and sometimes the least involved covers have the most to reveal.
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