This week’s 5 and 3 begins with Zero issue 2 by Ales Kot and Tradd Moore. The cover uses black and white to great effect. The faces become “faceless” as if each soldier is just another number copy of the others. It reminds me of storm troopers. Of course, the red faced boy stands out from the clones. Before even opening up the book you know who the story will be about.
The variant cover to Adventure Time #21 is another example of using shape and design to create an amazing artistic image. Sarah Horrocks does a great job with the colors and pencils of “Cover B” for this issue. The Ice King and Gunter are nearly lost in twisted Escher like maze of columns.
A simple cover by Cliff Chang for Wonder Woman 24 gets more and more interesting the longer you look at it. The little details come out and scare the hell out of you. Yes true bot-lievers, Wonder Woman has joined the pantheon of Gods.
The last one of my cover picks that uses geometrical shapes to catch the eye is Hawkeye 13. As usual, Hollingsworth reminds us that this books coloring is half of its charm. David Aja’s honeycomb panels to show us targets bull’s-eye’s and Clint Barton is chosen this week because Matt Hollingsworth’s coloring puts this cover on another level.
Fables #134 by Buckingham gets my last cover choice this week. I love the blue coloring against grey’s and whites. The wolves orange eye stands out as a similar point of focus as the horn.
Included at the end is a bonus I just had to add. So, I guess this week, 5 and 3 is more of a 5 and 4, but, who would complain about more comics or more art?
This Hawkeye series by Fraction, given visual life by Aja, is great. Jessica Drew is absolutely sexy because of how independent and powerful she is. You can feel the tension in these panels as she makes it clear to Barton that she doesn’t need him to protect her. The flip of the hair, the twist in the air and the confident turn of the back to walk away from Hawkeye and Black Widow was a moment readers (as well as Clint) will not soon forget.
Thief of Thieves 17 continues to please anyone who likes heists and Robert Kirkman. I always imagine George Clooney as Danny Ocean as Redmond. In these panels though, we’re reminded this book is about violence and art theft.
In honor of Anime Banzai this week in Layton, Utah, I picked Deadpool and Molly having a moment in Uncanny X-Men 13. These future Evil Brotherhood of Mutants aren’t very nice. This particular Deadpool isn’t very funny… unless you think gratuitous violence is something to laugh about.
Now, how about that bonus? In Indestructible Hulk Special #1 there is a full page splash of Hulk and puppy goodness. Not only is this cute and awesome, it’s an amazing example of Jacob Wyatt’s pencils and inks combined with colors from last week’s 5 and 3 MVP Jordie Bellaire. Who was this week’s MVP you might ask? Well, send me a tweet @MarkAvo and I’ll let you know.
