Comments on: Judging (Marvel's April) Books By Their Covers

By: Sean W

Sean W — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:06:13 +0000

Jebus Maria and Josef, that Glenn Fabry cover towards the end (X-FACTOR I believe)........that.......

THAT'S ARCADE!!!!!!! :-O

By: Hal

Hal — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 20:50:17 +0000

I love the Cary Nord/Ultimate Human cover. Deserves MY Top 5.

Also love how an artist can paint only half a cover and be praised for the use of "white space". Cool.

By: Apodaca

Apodaca — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 07:17:18 +0000

Thanks!

By: Rohan Williams

Rohan Williams — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 05:16:04 +0000

Incidentally, I'm loving Apodaca's 'faux-torealism' phrase. Seems like the perfect way to describe Hitch's art, nicely done.

By: corey henson

corey henson — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 04:46:48 +0000

That cover for Kick-Ass is actually interior art from the first issue, so I doubt that's what the cover will actually look like.

By: Apodaca

Apodaca — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 03:03:38 +0000

Yeah, Hitch's face for The Thing is not quite right. An example of a character for whom the faux-torealism doesn't quite work.

By: Djed

Djed — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:31:32 +0000

I love the Ultimate Human cover. Hulk looks really menacing there. Impressive!

Bachalo's Spidey-in-Snow cover is absolutely gorgeous. But number one pick for the the ASM #555 cover? I don't know - is it actually finished?

By: Kristen

Kristen — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:13:36 +0000

That Anita Blake cover irritates me every time I see it. Apparently he's upset over having blood carefully poured over his shoulders. Granted, that would be upsetting.

And the Thing on the oily FF cover creeps me out. Both the teeth and the eyes are just... wrong.

By: Apodaca

Apodaca — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:52:08 +0000

That's fair enough, Omar.

By: Omar Karindu

Omar Karindu — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:11:57 +0000

The concept behind the Kick-Ass covers might work better for me if JR, Jr. weren't so solidly established (and so genre-stylized) a superhero artist. I see the cover and get the basic idea, but the stylization and the artist association keep the violence from seeming visceral and the apparent ages of the character pictured from registering immediately. And for the shock effect to work, it'd need to register on sight.

By: Annoyed Grunt

Annoyed Grunt — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:57:39 +0000

"Correct me if Iâ€™m wrong, but during that Punisher storyline, isnâ€™t Castle up against 8 soldiers (and only six shown)?"

I believe he's going to be going up against the 8 US Generals who sent him on his mission in the Mother Russia arc. Those would be the soldiers they're sending after him, though I could see there being more than the 6 pictured.

Speaking of the Punisher and cover homages, the War Journal cover looks like an homage to Punisher #55

http://image.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/65894733778.55.GIF

By: TheSeaKing

TheSeaKing — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:40:51 +0000

That Jackson Guice Captain America cover would have to be my number one. I love how he uses the colors in the shield. Like Brian said, it's action oriented, but highly stylized.

By: Apodaca

Apodaca — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:35:04 +0000

Whoa, we get interiors by Panter, too?

Hallelujah!

By: Joe Rice

Joe Rice — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:15:08 +0000

Yes, Panter is doing the interiors as well. I expect what few average Marvel fans are reading this will completely explode.

By: Apodaca

Apodaca — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:38:01 +0000

You're sure missing out, MA. Omega's really hitting it's stride.

By: MarkAndrew

MarkAndrew — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:24:23 +0000

Gary Panter. Dang. Is he doing interiors, too?

I'm still not sure if I'm allowed to buy Omega now.

By: The Dane

The Dane — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:12:57 +0000

Wow. Tony Harris gave Jameson a penis-nose. Colour me impressed.

By: Scavenger

Scavenger — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:00:23 +0000

re Hulk Cover(s)

How come these things never seem to match up when you place them side by side?

Because your 2 graphics aren't sized right.
The 2 halves form a whole that was used as a promo/christmas card give away in Decemeber:

http://img87.imageshack.us/my.php?image=9e321zj3.jpg

re: Ron Lim - Layton's one of those Inkers, especialy on Iron Man, who really puts his stamp on the art.
Lim, unfortunately, is one of those pencilers who's heavily at the mercy of his artists, as his frequent, unfortunate pairing with Al Milgrim shows.

By: Alan

Alan — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:38:17 +0000

What's going on with Sebastian Shaw's face in the Legacy cover??? It's almost as odd as that face-front ass shot of the She-Hulk - wow, that's crappy!

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:06:06 +0000

I'm not sure how strictly the term "homage" should be defined, but the Layton/Lim cover does remind me a lot of the Layton/J.R.Jr. cover for IIM 150:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmward1/2249064331/sizes/l/

Since my original introduction to Layton was his work with John Romita Jr. on Iron Man, it shouldn't be surprising that I've always found his inks more impressive than his pencils. It was both Layton and Terry Austin who really taught me how important it was to pair pencillers and inkers to compliment each other, but Bob Layton was definitely the first name I ever learned to really respect as an inker.