(Since i may be the only person to have seen both, THANK YOOOU! )

I will mail a fresh $20 bill to the very next cover artist who manages to put the fricking arrow on the correct side of the bow. (Hint: it probably won’t be Michael Ryan, though he is a contender for the “worst portrayal of archery” award this month.)

Seriously. If you’re drawing covers for Marvel or DC and you have a chance to show an archer, do a little research, draw something that actually looks like archery, email me the cover scan and your address and $20 is yours free and clear, just for doing your damn job.

According to this week’s Sketchbook, it’s part of Cyclops’s arm : it’s the first part of a 5-part cover piece.

Because the best of ‘em are intriguing, that’s why. Which beats a cover like the Terry Moore’s Mary Jane #1. (I like Moore’s work, love some of his Strangers in Paradise run, but his covers rarely invite wonder.)

I’m still not loving the Dodsons’ Marvel stuff. It just seems flat to me. As if they’d taken the big Marvel contract without any desire to do Marvel comics.

But Deodato on SHE-HULK? He has been doing some rockin’ stuff. I didn’t know he had it in him.

Nope, not the cover, so it must be an internal page somewhere.

J.

Perosnally, I also think the Power Pack cover is cute too. Sadly, I still see rap album covers that look just like that, so it’s not as out-of-date as I would have originally thought. Katie’s “PACK LIFE” ring is the clincher there for me.

Still not excited about Ramos’ Runaways designs. I especially don’t like his Nico, though his Molly isn’t half bad. I would like to have seen Mike Ryan stick with the book…

Top 5
5. Wolverine First Class (I like the little details)
4. Marvel Adventures Super Heroes (I like the energy)
3. X-Men Origins
2. X-Factor Special
1. Secret Invasion: Inhumans (just a beautiful, beautiful cover)

I think Issue 1 of the 1995 Green Goblin series had the same style cover as Spider-man 568.

I also like the way Bradstreet (sort of) references the first Punisher miniseries.

I was also amused to see that, after thinking how much July’s Foolkiller looked like an emulation of Bradstreet’s Punisher, that August’s actually has Punisher on the cover.

Inhumans wins hands down. Amazing cover.

My top five

5 Marvel Illustrated Three Musketeers 3 – Parel rarely disappoints and this is an intriguiging cover – great use of red.

4 Mary Jane Loves Spider Man 1 – just cos it’s so darned cute

3 True Believers 2 – has there ever been a more kooky and charming representation of Reed Richards, reminds me somewhat of the notorious Nick Nolte mugshots.

2 Secret Invastion: Inhumans 1 – the hair! the hair! Best use of hair on a cover ever!

1 X-Men Origin: Jean Grey – wow, gotta disagree with you, Brian, I was knocked out by this stupendous and beautiful portrait – one of the covers of the year, imo. Well, it’s been the month for redheads…

They are both blonde, I guess.

I disagree about the Jean Grey Origins cover. I think it is very solid and would have it AT LEAST as an Honorable Mention.

Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)

Then again, even when they’ve had other writers to come in, it’s still seriously disrupted the book’s flow, to the point where I stopped reading, and haven’t felt interested in picking it up again because the central story never gains enough momentum. And I’ve actually been reading the event books, so I don’t have a problem with those stories themselves. They just haven’t been able to incorporate the events very harmoniously. At least, when they’re using other writers for the tie-ins, they’re sort of acknowledging that.

For what it’s worth, it’s highly unlikely that Harry’s death wasn’t the Knaufs’ idea. It was a key part of Millar’s and Bendis’s original plan for Civil War itself. Given the job to do it themselves, I think the Knaufs executed it pretty well.