Comments on: Judging (DC's August) Books by Their Covers

By: unknown

unknown — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:22:22 +0000

Blackest Night Superman #1 cover is actually drawn by Shane Davis. You can tell by his signature on the cover.

By: Comic Reviews: Power Girl and The Unwritten | Pink Raygun.com

Comic Reviews: Power Girl and The Unwritten | Pink Raygun.com — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:57:19 +0000

[...] Judging (DC’s August) Books by Their Covers (goodcomics.comicbookresources.com) [...]

By: Graeme White

Graeme White — Fri, 22 May 2009 11:19:06 +0000

What's with the gratuitous Flash-ass on the Titans cover?

By: Rebis

Rebis — Fri, 22 May 2009 07:12:56 +0000

I actually prefer the more dynamic Kubert cover for the "Blackest Night" Batman mini than the one you ranked. Also, Bolland's awesome "Animal Man" deserves to be Top Five. And (although I know it would spoil the symmetry of the "Young Liars" cover): Despite its nickname, Mars is nowhere near a RED planet. More like orange. Or amber, to be more precise.

By: Alex

Alex — Fri, 22 May 2009 03:03:20 +0000

The Red Robin cover is amazing. Manapul may be one of DC's best finds in recent years. Which means it will only be about another six months before Marvel signs him to an exclusive. But my biggest question is: who is Batman fighting on the Blackest Night: Batman cover? Is that Deadman? I know Didio was quoted as saying that Boston would have a prominent role in Blackest Night...and why does Black Mask have Batman's skull on the Blackest Night # 2 cover? Overall, looks like great stuff.

By: Ian

Ian — Thu, 21 May 2009 22:23:41 +0000

Ok, maybe "hideous" was over-stating it somewhat, but there are many, many things wrong with that cover in my opinion, not least that it takes some looking at before you can work out exactly what youre seeing, which defeats the whole object of a cover.
Also, it looks incredibly "scetchy", which is a technique which can be fantastic when used well, but it doesn't work for this image.
Finally, that green background looks completely out of place and messes with the feel of the image as a whole.
A shame, since I've actually been quite an admiror of Quitely ever since that JLA Earth 2 GN he did with Morrison.
All that said, I do think the fact that Batman and Robin are recognisable despite being so small is a nice touch.

By: joshschr

joshschr — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:24:31 +0000

I don't think it's hideous, but beyond the novelty of the framing device, it didn't really grab me for a few reasons. The bodies of the baddies kind of blend together. Are they supposed to be Raggedy Andys (tell me if I pluralized that correctly)? The action is far in the background, and it's not really clear what Batman & Robin are supposed to be fighting on top of, there's no real context for their battleground. It's a good drawing, good perspective. But I can see where some people may feel that it is lacking.

By: Neal K

Neal K — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:16:12 +0000

I've seen a lot of complaints about the Batman and Robin cover, but nothing beyond, "it's hideous," or "it sucks." Can someone please elaborate on what's wrong with it? I'm being serious here, not snarky - what about it offends you?

By: Justin Z

Justin Z — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:06:26 +0000

That Batman and Robin cover *is* hideous, but that is precisely what I love about it. It's the sort of thing that would've freaked me out as a kid but I'd still find compelling. Sometimes I think kds these days aren't being freaked out enough by their popular entertainment.

By: Chad Walters

Chad Walters — Thu, 21 May 2009 17:07:17 +0000

"I’ve figured out what I don’t like about the Super Friends cover - why is only GL’s costume the “evil” version? Shouldn’t Flash be dressed like Zoom or something? That would make it more obvious; as it is, the only real visual cues are Wonder Woman’s skin tone, the subtle reverse “S”, and GL dressed as Sinestro."

He's not dressed as Sinestro; he's Yellow Lantern, the Bizarro Green Lantern.

By: Ian

Ian — Thu, 21 May 2009 17:00:32 +0000

That Batman and Robin cover is truly hideous

By: Jeff R.

Jeff R. — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:03:52 +0000

Speaking of possibly incomplete, is DC editorial still debating what dates to put on Johnathan Kent's tombstone? Because leaving it blank like that looks really, really bad. (If you have to be coy about the years [which you don't, really; just make it the current version and nobody will care that it doesn't fit the timeline five years from now], you really need to put something in front to obstruct where the dates will be...

By: David

David — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:47:23 +0000

I think you missed the concept of the JSA cover. The top part is a perspective from underwater of dead Kobra agents which is why it looks watery.

Overall I think you were on the mark with the covers this month though I seem to be more OK with iconic covers like the Batgirl and Booster Gold than you are and I am not as big a fan of busy covers (Gears of War). I hate all the Superman covers though. I know who all the heroes are but the other halves don't stand out well enough for me to ID or care about them. Blacknest Night has no depth and I find DMZ yet another boring composite.

My favs in no order are Detective Comics, Batman, BN: Batman, Looney Tunes, and Wildcats

By: C. Adams

C. Adams — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:44:37 +0000

"That Titans cover is one of the worst “drawings” I’ve ever seen. Who thought that would be a good cover?"

Oh come on! Go look at any number of comics that Marvel put out in the glut of the 90s if you want to see some of the worst "drawings" to ever be put down on paper.

And I know that Young Liars is a critical darling (heck, I even have the first 5 issues) but that cover has NOTHING over some of the others on the list.

By: Neal K

Neal K — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:24:25 +0000

Such a great cover by J. Bone. It's the little things that sell it for me, not the general concept that they are going the wrong way. Bone really sells that the Flash is trudging.... so... slowly. And he gives Aquaman a snorkel!

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:10:59 +0000

Those Superman covers remind of the Emporer:Joker series fromthe alte 90s. those were cool, too.

Cheers,

By: Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:24:56 +0000

I've figured out what I don't like about the Super Friends cover - why is only GL's costume the "evil" version? Shouldn't Flash be dressed like Zoom or something? That would make it more obvious; as it is, the only real visual cues are Wonder Woman's skin tone, the subtle reverse "S", and GL dressed as Sinestro. Batman: BATB is a Batman / metal guy from The Great Ten team up? Okay, that's awesome (and needs to be done on the TV series, stat). That Red Robin cover is indeed something special, and very different from the tone you'd normally associate with the character.

By: Okman

Okman — Thu, 21 May 2009 04:04:55 +0000

When I first saw that Kubert cover, I coulda sworn it was by Nguyen. Has Kubert used that style before?

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 21 May 2009 03:31:07 +0000

I'd have to say that the most effective cover for me this month was, surprisingly enough, the Scooby Doo cover. When I saw the small thumbnail, the cover looked nothing at all like what I would expect from a Scooby Doo book, so I stopped and had a look when I usually just skip right over the Johnny DC books.

By: Fan4Fan

Fan4Fan — Thu, 21 May 2009 01:52:39 +0000

So, DC is finally jumping on the Zombie bandwagon....