comic covers
Frosty first look at Adam Hughes’ cover for Fairest #3
Adam Hughes has revealed his cover for the third issue of Fairest, Vertigo’s upcoming Fables spinoff series that will spotlight such female characters as Thumbelina, Rapunzel, Snow White and Rose Red. While the six-issue initial arc, by Fables creator Bill Willingham and artists Phil Jimenez and Andy Lanning, centers on Briar Rose, Hughes puts Lumi, the Snow Queen (previously seen in the background of his cover for Fairest #1) front and center.
Check out the full image below. Fairest debuts from Vertigo in March; the third issue arrives in May.
- February 3, 2012 @ 08:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
A first look at DC’s Before Watchmen covers [Updated]
As DC Comics’ Before Watchmen announcement rolls out from multiple news and entertainment outlets, so too do our first looks at covers for all seven prequels to the groundbreaking 1986 miniseries.
Okay, almost seven, as USA Today has only offered a detail of one of Lee Bermejo’s covers for Rorschach (at right), his four-issue miniseries with Luthor and Joker collaborator Brian Azzarello. To make up for it, though, there’s a cover by original Watchmen colorist John Higgins for a Crimson Corsair story by he and original Watchmen editor Len Wein.
We also have a Dr. Manhattan cover by Adam Hughes (courtesy of CBR), Minutemen by Darwyn Cooke (Hero Complex), Nite Owl by Andy Kubert and Joe Kubert (Heat Vision), Ozymandias by Jae Lee (Underwire), and Silk Spectre by Amanda Conner (Entertainment Weekly). UPDATE: Now, thanks to The New York Times, we also have one of J.G. Jones’ Comedian covers.
Check out the covers below. We’ll update if more, and in some cases larger, images become available.
UPDATE: DC Comics has released hi-res versions of each of the covers, which we’ve added below.
- February 1, 2012 @ 05:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
A look at the evolution of the Avatar: The Last Airbender cover
On the Dark Horse blog, editor Dave Marshall shares the cover process for Avatar: The Last Airbender — The Promise Part 1, from writer Gene Luen Yang’s rough ideas to art duo Gurihiru’s cover sketches to Avatar co-creator Bryan Konietzko’s notes to the final product.
The 80-page graphic novel, the first in a series of digests continuing the adventures of Aang and his friends, arrives Jan. 25.
- January 12, 2012 @ 10:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
The 50 best covers of 2011
The fourth annual rundown of the best covers of the year features 50 images representing the work of 42 different artists (plus colorists, inkers, letterers and designers) from eight publishers.
Returning creators like Jo Chen, Dave Johnson, Paolo Rivera and J.H. Williams III are joined on the list by such “newcomers” as Francesco Francavilla, Viktor Kalvachev, Tradd Moore and Steve Morris.
As with previous installments, I’ve attempted to explain the appeal of each entry; some covers get just a sentence, while others receive entire paragraphs. That doesn’t reflect the quality of the image, but merely what I have to say about it.
For those interested in the lists from previous years, they can be found here: the best covers of 2010; the best covers of 2009; and the best covers of 2008.
With that out of the way, I present, in alphabetical order, the 50 best covers of 2011:
- January 2, 2012 @ 11:55 AM by Kevin Melrose
“Cornered” by monsters!
Legion of Monsters
Cornered, the blog where artists “recreate the spot character illustrations which appeared in the upper left-hand corners of so many classic comics,” is celebrating Halloween by featuring various horror-related comics. For instance, above Brendan Tobin redraws the corner box for Marvel’s classic horror comic Legion of Monsters, and today they’ve also featured Where Monsters Dwell and Storm and Dracula, from Uncanny X-Men #159, among others. Go check’em out.
- October 31, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by JK Parkin
Kevin Huizenga unveils the cover for Ganges #4
My, but this has some oomph, doesn’t it? That clean block lettering (Helvetica? font geeks, help me out here), all that black…I know I’m excited. The latest installment in Huizenga’s oversized solo anthology series is due in August from Fantagraphics.
- June 10, 2011 @ 05:00 AM by Sean T. Collins
Paul Pope’s variant cover for Dark Horse Presents #1
Dark Horse Presents cover by Paul Pope
Dark Horse catches a tiger by the tail with a “special ultra-rare” variant cover by Paul Pope for the upcoming Dark Horse Presents reboot. Retailers will receive one copy with the variant cover for every 20 copies they order, which no doubt means they’ll be fetching a high price from your local retailer. Personally I’d love to see it released as a print.
- February 23, 2011 @ 06:00 AM by JK Parkin
Black like Lois: Dean Haspiel’s favorite cover
Lois as you have never seen her before
Dean Haspiel posts his favorite DC Comics cover of all time, a crack-tastic Lois Lane comic from 1970 (with echoes not only of Black Like Me but also I Am Curious (Yellow)). Bonus: If the cover has you curious, you can read a detailed summary of the entire story arc, starting here, at Comic Books Revisited.
- May 27, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
Cover Story | Dave Johnson on Abe Sapien: The Abyssal Plain #1
Abe Sapien: The Abyssal Plain #1, by Dave Johnson
One of the pleasant surprises this week in Dark Horse’s solicitations for June was a listing for Abe Sapien: The Abyssal Plain #1, which features a cover by Dave Johnson.
An Abe solo adventure that sends our amphibian hero on the hunt of an ancient relic aboard a sunken Soviet submarine is reason enough to take notice, to be sure. But when you add the Eisner Award-winning artist to the equation, there’s cause for celebration — particularly when the cover he creates is such a departure from what we’re accustomed to seeing on the Hellboy and B.P.R.D. books.
Johnson, known for his bold sense of design on such titles as 100 Bullets, Detective Comics, Superman: Red Son and Punisher, spoke briefly with Robot 6 about his striking cover for The Abyssal Plain #1, and shared art from the production process.
Abe Sapien: The Abyssal Plain #1 is due in stores in June.
While the color palette signals that the comic is in the Hellboy/B.P.R.D. line, the other elements are vastly different — the massive amount of white space instead of encroaching shadows, the repetition of the hammer and sickle in the bubbles (distinctly you). Was it a conscious effort to go in such a vastly different direction?
Actually, I have to disagree with you on the color palette. It’s hardly the Hellboy norm. And that was the point. [Mike] Mignola had said that he wanted me because I was doing something different than himself on other stuff. So I really wanted to set myself apart. Which is a lot harder than you think because his style is so ingrained into the Hellboy universe. And because I’m a huge fan, it still feels like I’m pissing on perfection. But that’s the job, I guess. Haha. So, I wanted more color than black to dominate the over all feel. Also, I love negative space in design. Too many artists act like they’re getting paid by the line and how much crap they can unload on a cover. I’ll take a well-designed, simple cover over a hyper-rendered fanboy jerk-fest any day of the week.
- March 18, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
This art show’s got you Covered
The Covered Art Show at Secret Headquarters
Founded by cartoonist Robert Goodin, Covered is one of the all-time great comic-art blog concepts: Get artists to draw “cover versions” of their favorite comics covers. And if you’ve been following blogs like Robot 6, you’ve probably gathered from the amount of linklove Covered has gotten that the execution has been just as awesome as the idea.
Now Covered is moving beyond the electronic walls of the Internet to the gallery walls of L.A. retailer Secret Headquarters, which is holding an Covered art show that opens March 6 at 8pm. The show will feature mostly all-new art in the mighty Covered manner from Goodin, Jeffrey Brown, Coop, Lisa Hanawalt, Dustin Harbin, Sammy Harkham, Sam Henderson, Tom Neely, Laura Park, Brian Ralph, Aaron Renier, Johnny Ryan, Richard Sala, Jeremy Tinder, Mark Todd, Jon Vermilyea, Steve Weissman, and many more. You’ll be able to buy art there or via Secret Headquarters’ Flickr page. Save those pennies, Los Angelenos!
(Via Shaggy Erwin)
- February 15, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Sean T. Collins
Straight for the art | Jeffrey Brown covers Secret Wars II
Detail from Jeffrey Brown's Secret Wars II #8 cover
Just in case you have some sort of crippling emotional block that prevents you from checking Robert Goodin’s wonderful Covered blog every day — since that’s the only reason I can think of why you wouldn’t — I just wanted to bring Jeffrey Brown’s cover version of Al Milgrom & Steve Leialoha’s cover for Secret Wars II #8 to your attention. (Actually, it’s sort of an X-Men-centric remix of the original.) Above is a small portion–believe me, you wanna click through and see the whole thing, if only to marvel that yes, the major antagonist for a line-dominating crossover event once dressed in an all-white version of Eddie Murphy’s leather jumpsuit from Delirious.
- November 25, 2009 @ 11:00 AM by Sean T. Collins
Straight for the art | A pair of covers by Terry Dodson
Uncanny X-Men #518 Cover Art
Artist Terry Dodson shares two “work in progress” covers over on his blog. First, the above cover for Uncanny X-Men #518, and second, the pencils for an upcoming issue of What If? about Spider-Man.
- September 28, 2009 @ 11:02 AM by JK Parkin
‘Covered’ covered by Wired
Captain America No. 2 by Danny Hellman
One of my favorite comics art blogs, Covered, received a nice write-up this week on Wired’s Underwire blog. If you haven’t seen it before, Covered features new takes on old comics covers by a variety of artists.
In addition to showcasing some of blogger/artist Robert Goodin’s favorite submissions, Underwire also featured commentary from Goodin on each of his favorites (including Danny Hellman’s Captain America cover, above.)
- September 9, 2009 @ 11:13 AM by JK Parkin
Comics and wrestling tag-team in Chikara
Uncanny X-Men #141 & Chikara DVD cover
Chikara is a Lucha Libre-style wrestling promotion based in Pennsylvania that uses a lot of comic book imagery in their promotion. Case in point, check out these covers to some of their DVDs, which feature homages to classic comic covers by Marco D’Alfonso, or check out their roster page to see their talent turned into comic book heroes and villains.
- June 8, 2009 @ 11:30 AM by JK Parkin
Process junkies, prepare to be overstimulated
I’ve ended up with several process-related posts in my saved links file, so I thought I’d share them all in one swoop.
• Let’s start with Jeffrey Brown, who has been posting up a storm of process goodness on his blog. Brown’s new book, Funny Misshapen Body, was just released; here are some early cover “brainstorming” sketches:
Cover process for 'Funny Misshapen Body'
Here’s some of the initial brainstorming for the ‘Funny Misshapen Body’ cover. There were about a dozen more ideas, but these were the strongest ones. All the ideas were passed along to the editors at Touchstone, who then looked at them and decided which parts and aspects of the concepts they liked most.
In another post, he develops the concept further, and then later shares the final art before it went to the designer. He also shares a flow chart he used to put together the story.
• Next, Joshua Middleton covers Supergirl #45 …
- April 10, 2009 @ 11:59 AM by JK Parkin