Thursday, April 5, 2018

DC Comics Best Covers of the Week: April 4, 2018

Four Batmen and a Bizarro

This week, it's a first for the DC Comics Best Covers of the Week clearing house: four covers on the list--from two issues! That's right, both the regular edition and variant cover for two titles made it to the Best Covers list--one pair for an obvious reason, the other for reasons...less obvious. Namely, because they have to do with my aesthetic. But also, this list is totally and objectively factual, without room for dissension. Take a look!



Superman #44
Patrick Gleason
If you want to turn my head at the comic shop, then stuff your comic book cover full of Bizarros. I can't get enough of 'em! I love the Silver Age back-ups, and in particular how every DC Comics character had their own Bizarro counterpart. And look at 'em now! They never looked sleeker.






Deathstroke #30 variant
Jermone Opena
I wish this painting was more polished, but the idea of Deathstroke facing off against Batman, and wiping his sword down with Superman's cape first, is indubitably bad-ass. You know what would have gotten by Comic Book Cover Appreciator's juices flowing? If there was a reflection of Batman in the sword.






Deathstroke #30
Lee Weeks
Here's a Spaghetti Western I'd like to see. Bisecting the cover into "light" and "dark" halves may not be the most inspired, but when drawn by Lee Weeks it's going to look righteous. I'll even forgive the strong Mazzucchelli influence here.






Batman #44 variant
Oliver Copiel
Here's a cover that is nice by itself, but really only works in conjunction with the regular edition's wrapping, so let's discuss them both there.






Batman #44
Mikel Janin, Joëlle Jones
On the face of it, the idea of having a character look into a mirror to find their alter ego staring back at them is not terribly inspired. But there were a lot of decisions made in these two covers that I think warrant a look. For one thing, thank goodness they don't combine to create one picture that would make no sense; I know there's a predilection towards doing this, and I'm glad to see these creative teams showed restraint. For another thing, having Oliver Copiel handle the Selina cover and Mikel Janin cover the Bruce cover was a great choice, because they each lend the right air of femininity and masculinity into what are otherwise practically the same picture. Even the color palettes work to this extent, and that's why you see these two at the number two and number one spots on the list this week.

No comments:

Post a Comment