As always, “Five & Three” brings you my favorite things in comics this week. Every week I pick my five favorite covers and three favorite panels to create “Five & Three”. I like to talk about why I picked the covers and panels and welcome hecklers and trend setters alike.
It’s an all-covers week as DC Comics comes in strong thanks to some beautiful Darwyn Cooke covers and a terrific new Vertigo book. First up though, is an interesting choice of perspective for the cover to “Gotham Academy #3” by Karl Kerschl. The comic itself continues to be a bunch of fun and one of the books I hope continues to turn the artistic and character direction of DC. I may be in the minority, but I really like what DC Comics has been doing lately.
As an example of how much I like what DC Comics is doing lately I can point to the wonderful variant covers to their main titles this month from Darwyn Cooke. This variant to “Detective Comics #37” is terrific but I like the interiors by Francis Manapul just as much. It was hard not to pick Manapul’s cover but I’ve got a good history with his “The Flash” covers so I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of his work here.
Image: 13thdimension.com
I didn’t pick the Cooke variant to “Grayson #5” because the Mikel Janin one pulled me in. The mood is red hot with this cover.
Off of DC for just a moment I’d like to talk about how much I’m loving “Guardians 3000” and how amazing issue 3 is. I’m doing so by sneaking in an Alex Ross cover. Who doesn’t love Alex Ross? I hope this book is selling well because I’m in it as long as Dan Abnett and Gerardo Sandoval are the creative team.
Back over to DC comics because I didn’t love Gail Simone’s “Secret Six #1” as much as I’d hoped I would. Is it a bad book then? By no means, it’s wonderful and the artistic team did a great job, but it felt too compact for the story I know Simone is ready to tell. I recommend this to anyone with a place in their hold but if you’re full up it’s probably better to wait for the trade on this one.
There is so much going on in the artistic composition and talent for the cover to Vertigo’s latest “Wolf Moon #1” by Jeremy Haun, June Chung, Jae Lee, and Lee Loughridge, that I just had to include it here. Given that I featured “Grayson” earlier, I guess I’m in a bit of a red mood this week.
Panel Syndicate delivered another great book this week with the penultimate issue of “The Private Eye #9” and the cover by Marcos Martin and Munsta Vicente is another one I’d like to see as a print. Readers will be happy to know that the cover to issue #8 is soon to become a print. If you’ve wanted granddad giving the bird on your wall as much as I have, you’ll get your chance very soon.
Last up is my favorite artist once again. I promised months ago that Cooke would be a large feature for “Five and Three” for the month of December and with covers like these, how could I disappoint? Darwyn Cooke certainly didn’t.
Image: 13thdimension.com
That’s all for this week. If you disagree with a pick, let me know in the comments or on Twitter @MarkAvo or on Instagram @TheMarkAvo. If you think I should’ve picked something else or if you have a pick in mind for next week, give me a shout out and let me know. If you’d like to check out more “Five and Three” comic book moments start with “Five and Three” from last week. And remember, from now on we’ll see you on Mondays!