These are my five favorite covers this week. I like a book that grabs my attention or has a uniqueness to it. I love great stories, but comics are also about great art. In comic’s it’s common place to judge a book by its cover. A cover is, in many ways, like the opening to a movie or TV show. The cover sets the mood and prepares you for the 20-24 page adventure you’re about to go on.
The poster quality of Vertigo’s Wake #4 this week is really striking. It jumps off of the rack or out of the icons in your favorite comic book app. It isn’t the color that loses you, but the use of contrast between dark and light. I got the director’s cut of The Wake but this cover makes me want to check out what I’ve been missing.
Real West #1 has that “Old West” feel with silk screen color of yellow and teal that would look great on a t-shirt. This 12 page Western from MonkeyBrain Comics was a nice tale about honor. The artist, A.C. Zamudio, has won several DeviantAt.com Daily Deviation awards.
Next Testament #4 popped out at me when I was browsing this week’s new releases on Comixology. It looks to me like some crazy pastel version of the rapture.
Fiona Staples is terrific. Did you see her variant cover for Rat Queens #1? This cover looks epic and not in the frat guy use of the word. The cover to Saga #14 prepares you for the epic nature of the story you’re about to read.
McKelvie and Wilson probably drive a bus, because they’re taking so many cover artists to school! The Dimension powers of Miss America and the hungry villain Mother are perfectly on display here as the Young Avengers tumble through interdimensional space and time!
These are my three favorite moments in comics this week. Sometimes it’s just a panel, other times it’s a small sequence. In any case the dialogue and the art click in what makes for great moments in comics. My first one is a scene from Jupiter’s Legacy #3 that really shows off Frank Quitely’s take on the psychic abilities of The Utopian’s brother Walter. The fading colors to inks to pencils represents the incredibly illusion Walter has constructed to trap his sister-in-law.
The next panel is the reason why Rat Queens sold out. OK, it’s not the only reason, but it’s a great example of the one liner’s that make the book so much fun. I laugh every time I read it; I can’t seem to put the book down.
The final moment of the week is, by far, my favorite. Sophie has had a rough life. Her savior’s companion has now become her really good friend. Like all good friends, this one lets Sophie know she is a good person despite the trauma she went through. It wasn’t her fault what happened to her and the Lying Cat let her know she shouldn’t blame herself for being the victim of monsters.
Well, there you have it folks. Those were my eight favorite things in comics this week. I’m hoping to make Five and Three a weekly thing. If you like it, let me know. If you think I missed the mark, let me know. For that matter, next week you should tweet me (@MarkAvo) what you think the best things in comics are from the past week. I’ll be sure to take every suggestion I get over Twitter into consideration.