Comic Book Resources

Judging (Marvel’s November) Books By Their Covers

• by Brian Cronin
• in Judging Books By Their Covers

Marvel’s November Solicitations are up, so let’s make some prejudgements based just on the covers (as we all love to make prejudgements, don’t we?)!

Let’s begin!
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Let’s just get it out of the way.

This cover looks bad.

Onslaught Reborn? Stillborn is more like it.

Moving on! As that was too easy, and overly mean, so I feel ashamed. Better to get that out of the way early, though! Onward and upward!
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This Pasqual Ferry Ultimate Fantastic Four cover reminds me of the OMAC stupid robot things. Therefore, it is inherently a bad cover.

Sorry, Mr. Ferry!! Don’t blame me, blame sense memory!!
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Holy crap. Mr. Land, if you cannot find an actor or model who looks like Hyperion, please note in the future that it is acceptable for you to create a face on your own, rather than just using a model/actor who does not look like Hyperion at all.

Just trying to help.
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This Ultimate Vision cover begs the question…

With all the nostalgia comics, why no Tron comic!??!
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Weird perspectives/poses on this Ben Oliver Ultimate X-Men cover.

I like him, though, while I’m not thrilled with this particular cover.
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I love the layout on this Ron Frenz Spider-Girl cover.

Very professional.
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If there’s something strange in your friendly neighborhood…

Who ya gonna call?

Pretty decent Scot Eaton cover for Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

Has there been a new regular artist named for this book yet?
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This is a weird Clayton Crain cover for Sensational Spider-Man.

I honestly don’t know what to say. So I open it up to you folks – think of a funny joke about this cover. The funniest joke gets a cool point!
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What I particularly like about this Takeshi Miyazawa cover is the boldness of willing to have the beginnings of MIDTOWN HIGH without explaining what the letters mean.

In addition, Miyazawa does a good job of capturing the reaction of MJ and Harry to hearing that they’re considered the school’s two biggest flirts.
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Pretty fun Spider-Man/Power Pack cover.

Gurihiru is occasionally a bit TOO cartoony for my tastes, though.
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This Skottie Young cover looks like it wasn’t quite finished.

I do like the design, though. A perfect fit for an anthology.
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Well drawn Wieringo cover for A-Next #1…

even if the majority of the characters on the cover are hideous.
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Not a bad Jo Chen cover for Runaways, but not the most engaging of covers…

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Did the Leader switch places with Stan Lee again?

Damn, that’s a big noggin.
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I didn’t know Heroclix was a contact sport!

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A nice drawing for Lopresti for the What If..? special involving Avengers Disassembled (and, by the way, this idea for all the What If…? one-shots is a LOT cooler than the last set of one-shots, which were pretty lame).

My only concern is that, like Michael Ryan’s art on New Excalibur, it seems a bit light for the dark nature of the story.
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What if… the Other wasn’t awful?

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CIVIL WAR COVERS!!!
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I’d like to see Iron Man just let Cap get his followthrough from that cover – {CLANG!!}

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Wow…until seeing this cover, I didn’t realize that pretty much all the black superheroes are on Cap’s side.

That’s kinda odd, no?
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Okay, so either Drax has become giant-sized, Nova has shrunk or this Gabriele Dell’Otto Annihilaton cover doesn’t make sense.

I hope it’s A or B, but it seems like it’s C.
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I loves me some Phil Hester, but I can’t say I enjoyed this cover.

I mean, is there an explosion? Fire? What is going on?
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GREAT cover idea by Scott Kolins for this Beyond! cover.

I can’t say I’m thrilled with execution of the idea, but the IDEA is brilliant.
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It’s impossible for Dave Johnson to draw a BAD cover, but I can’t say that I’m particularly impressed with this Earth’s Mightiest Heroes 2 cover.

Although I love the cover design (with the giant letter)! Very nice change from the first series.
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Is that Panther armor on this Black Panther cover?

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Marko Djurdjevic is a very talented artist.

I can’t say, though, that I’m particularly impressed with the design on this Blade cover.
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Pretty good Lee Bermejo cover for Daredevil.

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I absolutely lurve Marco Martin, but this Dr. Strange cover leaves me a little cold.

I don’t think the little artistic flourishes around the characters helps the cover. In fact, I think it detracts from my enjoyment of the cover.
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Wow, this Rick Berry cover for the Eternals includes an odd artistic choice.

Having the background be so cloudy…just an odd decision.
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It is rare to see a cover like this.

In the foreground, we have one of the loveliest depictions of the Fantastic Four that you will see, by the uber-talented Alan Davis.

Then, in the background, we have one of the dorkiest looking Doombot (I guess it is a Doombot, right?) you will ever see, by the same uber-talented Alan Davis.

A tale of two parts of a cover!

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Cute Franklin Richards cover.

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I’m a bit disappointed in this Mark Texeria Ghost Rider cover.

The demon bikers after Ghost Rider barely look menacing at all. In addition, you can barely tell that they are all apparently going very fast.

Weird.
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Daniel Aja is a great artist, but this Iron Fist cover seems a bit too much like a poor Sam Kieth drawing.

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That is one creepy looking Heroes for Hire cover.

Yee-ikes, that’s some…ahem…interesting anatomical choices.

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Is this just a bad Sal Buscema cover, or were the 80s really this hideous?

I’m leaning towards the latter option.
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Alex Maleev’s Scarlet Witch certainly isn’t BAD, but I think a bit too stylistic.

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Very striking Gabreile Dell’Otto cover for Fantastic Four 1602.

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This David Finch cover for Moon Knight is quite striking. The bright colors of Spider-Man’s costume compared to the white garb of Moon Knight make for a nice contrast.

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I put a lot of faith into David Mack’s stylistic choices, as he’s a brilliant artist.

However, I think this White Tiger cover could have had a more interesting cover layout.

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Not the most appealing of Squadron Supreme covers by Mike Deodato.

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I am sure this Walter Geovani cover would hold more appeal for me if I had any idea what Demons of Mercy was about.

Since I don’t, though, this cover is pretty blah looking.
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Mark Brooks’ art seems a bit too bright to pull off the seriousness that this Cable/Deadpool cover is meant to convey.

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This “Exiles disguised as members of the Shi’Ar Imperial Guard” cover by Paul Pelletier is a new candidate for “dorkiest cover imaginable”!

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Pretty decent Paco Medina cover for New X-Men.

Suitable creepy, even with the cartonish feel to it.
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Good cover idea by Michael Ryan for this New Excalibur cover.

The Juggernaut’s helmet breaking is a very nice hook.
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I normally enjoy John Watson’s work, so seeing such a poor Uncanny X-Men cover by him really disappoints me.

But man, how unrealistic does THIS cover look? No one’s movements seem natural at all!
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Wouldn’t Wolverine be a lot cooler if he was just a walking skeleton?

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I am torn on this Ariel Olivetti Wolverine: Origins cover…

On the one hand, the fight on the cover is both engaging and well structured. On the other hand, the looseness of Olivetti’s “no inks” cover art gives it a weird feeling to me.
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Pablo Raimondi joins the book as regular artist, which is happy news – sadly, though, he is keeping the stupid giant wolf head for Rahne.

Are there any FANS of the stupid giant wolf head for Rahne out there?

Let me know! Why do you like it?
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This Marko Djurdjevic cover for X-Men: First Class, I think, is not all that engaging, as far as covers go.

Marvel NEEDS to get him working on a project with interiors, though! He’s a fine, fine artist.
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Clever idea for this Phoenix cover.

Silvestri’s execution, though, is a bit weird.
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Nice Arthur Suydum cover for Hellstorm, but didn’t we JUST see this homage at Marvel? Next week’s She-Hulk, I think. Let’s mix things up a bit, folks!!

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Decent enough Kyle Hotz Zombie cover.

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Pete Wisdom looks pretty cool on this Wisdom #1 cover by Trevor Hairsine.

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This Sean Chen cover for Marvel Adventures: Avengers seems a bit stiff with the character work.

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Wow, even Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man has a black costume, now? Yikes.

Nice Patrick Scherberger drawing of it, though!
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Nice film poster feel to this Criminal cover by the great Sean Phillips.

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Interesting composition by Jack Kirby on this cover.

The characters, themselves, though, don’t look that appealing, which you have to wonder how it will affect enjoyment of the posthumous series Jack Kirby’s Galactic Bounty Hunters.
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Pretty boring looking Powers cover by Michael Avon Oeming.

Also, I don’t like solicits that pride themselves on showing you gross scenes you couldn’t see in other comics. Seems like an odd selling point.
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HONORABLE MENTIONS!
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This Ladronn Hulk cover is good, but the characters seem overly stiff to be ranked higher (I loves me some Ladronn cover art).

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I found this Mark Bagley cover for Ultimate Spider-Man to be quite strong.

A classic, yet engaging cover. A good example of “cliched – because it WORKS.”
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Tommy Lee Edwards had been blowing me away with his Daredevil cover images, so I was highly disappointed by only having a pretty strong opening cover for Bullet Points.

The cover is still engaging enough to deserve special notice.
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Computer coloring effects really help Mike Wieringo’s cover art POP on this Ms. Marvel cover.

His design work helps, as well, as he lays out a very intriguing cover here.
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I like Michael Perkins’ artwork, and this cover has a nice idea…

however, his characters seem way too stiff. Some of them don’t even seem to be acknowledging the break in the glass in the center of the comic, which is weird.
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This Chris Bachalo cover is completely madcap, but not without sacrificing detail and logic.

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This was the CLOSEST call – between this one and #5. I almost copped out and had a tie.

Here is, as drawn by Kano for Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four – Sue Storm, Secret Agent!!

FLYING CARS!! They are always awesome! Not awesome, enough, however, for the…
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TOP FIVE COVERS!
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5. Nextwave JUST edges out Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four.

A big plus, mentioned by my pal Jake, is the way that everything on the Nextwave cover is a part of the cover, including the logo – the logo is a real piece of the artwork.

That helps push Stuart Immonen’s cover to the top five (on top of, of course, an engaging layout and great character depictions).
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4. This cover shows why Tim Bradstreet should not do colorform covers.

When he actually draws, we get awesome looking covers like this one!
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3. This Tomm Coker cover for Agents of Atlas is bizarre, but extremely compelling.

The cover layout is interesting, and Coker draws the animals and Venus (is that Venus? Aha, apparently, it’s Namora) quite well.
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2. I continue to be amazed at how great of an artist C.P. Smith is nowadays.

This Punisher X-Mas Special is yet another example of it.

Extremely stylized without taking away from coherence – it’s a real accomplishment of Smith’s artwork.
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1. This John Cassaday Astonishing X-Men cover is just way too much fun not to have at #1.

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Okay, that’s it for me, folks!

Feel free to share YOUR prejudices (and YOUR top five)!!