On his blog, the insanely talented Ryan Ottley shares his process for creating the cover to the Invincible Vol. 7: Ultimate Collection, which features the huge cast of characters from issues #71-84, a.k.a. the Viltrumite War storyline.

“I always have a hard time with these covers, they are always packed with everyone from the issues so it’s tough to get any kind of composition,” he said in the post. “Here I tried to organize things a little bit but with keeping the same idea of all the other covers.”

The hardcover collection is due Feb. 15, and you can catch up on previous volumes, as well as purchase Ottley’s latest sketchbook, in his new online store.

Jennifer de Guzman

Publishing | Jennifer de Guzman announced that, after 10 years, she has left her position as editor-in-chief of SLG Publishing: “My decade SLG was, I suspect, like no other decade anyone has spent working anywhere. I had great co-workers and got to work with fantastic creators, all of whom I will miss very much. (Though because this is comics and a community like no other, we will always stay in contact.)” [Possible Impossibilities]

Retailing | Chris Powell, current general manager and chief relationship officer for Texas-based comic chain Lone Star Comics, has accepted the newly created position of executive director of business development for Diamond Comic Distributors. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund board member will start his new position in March. [ICv2]

Miles Morales

Publishing | Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso answers questions about Miles Morales, the new Spider-Man of the Ultimate Universe: “When a little boy or girl looks at Spiderman, they do not see race. They do not see anything but the bright colors and the human shape. I think it is very easy for them to project themselves into that suit and to imagine themselves in that suit. Part of the thrill for me is knowing that there are little boys who will now pick up a Spiderman comic and see that after the adventure and the mask is peeled back he will look like them. As a Hispanic, it is nice to see Spiderman’s [...]  last name resemble the last name of my son.” [Fox News Latino]

Publishing | SanJose.com profiles SLG Publisher Dan Vado, who talks about why he started working in comics: “I think comics decided for me; I don’t think I really had any choice. There was never any point where I said, ‘This is what I’m gonna do.’ Comics was always something I was going to do while I’d figure out what it I was gonna do, and I guess I never really figured it out.” [SanJose.com]

Kate Beaton

Publishing | The Beat names its comics industry People of the Year. [The Beat]

Creators | Brian Wood chats about his upcoming Dark Horse series The Massive: “The world it inhabits is sort of a minefield of current events, of divisive politics (global warming, regime change, corporate bad-behavior, etc) but all that has sort of come to pass by the time the story opens. The damage has been done, and so its less about why/how things got so bad and more about, okay, what do we do now? Powerful social themes, but not political in the same way DMZ is.” [Suvudu]

Creators | Comics writer and filmmaker Kevin Smith answers questions about women and comic shops as he touts his new TV reality series Comic Book Men: “This is a show about these four dudes who work in this store. There are no women [in the store] yet…There should be a Comic Book Women, and good willing, there’ll be a spinoff Comic Book Women, and I’ll make shit ton of money.” [ThinkProgress]

Super Pro K.O., Vol. 1

Creators | Jarrett Williams discusses his work on the Oni Press graphic novel series Super Pro K.O. [Spandexless]

Creators | Writer Kyle Higgins looks at what’s ahead for DC’s Nightwing. [USA Today]

Comic art | The collaborative art blog Relaunched puts out the call for contributors to “Watchmen Too,” a Watchmen 2 theme month. [Calamity Jon, Save Us]

Commentary | Don MacPherson looks back at some of his favorites of the previous year. [Eye on Comics]

Fandom | When asked during a 60 Minutes interview whether his company was thin-skinned, Groupon CEO Andrew Mason popped his claws: “We’re like Wolverine and our skin has been melted off, and we’ve had Adamantium fused onto our bones.” [Nerd Reactor]

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.

Detective Comics #8

To celebrate the 2 millionth “like” of its Batman Facebook page, DC Comics has debuted the cover for April’s Detective Comics #8, by Tony S. Daniel and Sandu Florea.

“More than 2 million people have signaled that they are fans of the Caped Crusader, a sentiment we whole-heartedly agree with,” Brandy Phillips, DC Entertainment’s director of publicity, wrote this morning on The Source. “It’s no surprise that so many people feel this way. Batman continues to be one of the most popular comic characters ever created, with top-selling and popular books Batman, Detective Comics, Batman: The Dark Knight and Batman and Robin leading the way. And with Catwoman, Batwing, Batgirl and Batwoman rounding out the Batman family – the whole line is really on a tear, backed by some of the best creative talent in the industry including Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Tony Daniel, and David Finch, among many others.”

Check out the full cover below.

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:

Abe Sapien: The Devil Does Not Jest #1, by Francesco Francavilla
Perhaps best known for his recent work on Detective Comics and Black Panther, Francesco Francavilla has a pulp-influenced style that lends itself well to the world of Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. Reminiscent of some of the old Gold Key comics, this cover wonderfully relates what’s in store for Abe Sapien as he investigates the “deep, dark family secret” buried in the basement of a demonologist’s home.

Action Comics #2, by Rags Morales
While Rags Morales’ style is contemporary, the concept is a throwback to the heyday of the newsstand or maybe the movie serial: It’s a classic cliffhanger image, leading the reader to wonder how Superman ended up in this predicament — the shadowy yet easily identifiable face of Lex Luthor provides a clue — and how he might escape.

Angel & Faith #4, by Steve Morris
Using a limited color palette and symbols of death and immortality (the skeletons and the peacock), Steve Morris creates an image that’s eerie, beautiful and sinister. I love how the haunting “eyes” of the feathers are echoed in those of the people, and on the woman’s bracelet, and how the two figures are themselves sinewy and skeletal.

The Amazing Spider-Man #665, by Paolo Rivera
I’m a sucker for logos that interact with the cover illustration, rather than simply rest on top of it. So I have to give Paolo Rivera and his editors credit for not only swapping the trademark Amazing Spider-Man font for marquee letters — and then dropping four of those letters as the wall-crawler takes a spill. It’s a nice touch, too, that the M, A and N stick to Spidey’s feet and hand.

The Amazing Spider-Man #666, by Mike Del Mundo
For the start of the “Spider-Island” storyline, in which hundreds of New Yorkers manifest spider-powers, Mike Del Mundo could’ve opted for another landmark — I don’t know, maybe a web-encased Brooklyn Bridge or Chrysler Building — or gone in another direction completely. Instead, he chose the Statue of Liberty, adding a “human” if slightly alien element, and he absolutely nailed it (so well that the webbed skyline isn’t even necessary to convey the Spider-Island idea).

Baltimore: The Curse Bells #5, by Mike Mignola
Mike Mignola is a master at relating mood — eldritch, haunting mood — using a heavy dose of black and minimal detail. Here that ability shines with the blood-dripping bells, the creepy trio of undead nuns and flaming cross.

Batman Beyond #6, by Dustin Nguyen
DC Comics and Warner Bros. did the August-dated covers no favor by slapping a banner for the Green Lantern movie across the top. Still, Dustin Nguyen manages to stand out with his nearly DayGlo image of the irradiated Blight’s translucent hand crushing a batarang in front of a radiation sign.

Batwoman #1, by J.H. Williams III
For Kate Kane’s solo series, J.H. Williams has replaced the Art Deco touches of the acclaimed Detective Comics arc with water and death elements for the “Hydrology” story arc, which sends Batwoman up against the Weeping Woman.

Blue Estate #1, by Viktor Kalvachev
For an Elmore Leonard-style crime story, I can think of few better covers than this: whiskey poured from a gun barrel into a glass containing the ghostly, caramel-colored image of a woman. The comic’s logo is even modeled after the label of a whiskey bottle.

B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: Russia #2, by Dave Johnson
For the latest B.P.R.D. series, which sends Kate and Johann across the Atlantic to meet their Russian counterparts, Dave Johnson turns to the bold graphic imagery of classic Soviet posters for inspiration.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 9 #1, by Jo Chen
With the world cut off from all supernatural influences, Buffy Summers makes a fresh start in a new city, San Francisco — beautifully established by Jo Chen with this cover for the first issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 9. I like, too, how the title of the story arc, “Freefall,” seems to in with Buffy’s dizzying perch atop the Golden Gate Bridge.

Butcher Baker the Righteous Maker #4, by Mike Huddleston
Mike Huddleston’s smoking star-spangled semi roars through the air like an impossible stunt from a cocaine- and diesel-fueled 1970s road movie. You can almost smell the fumes.

Casanova: Avaritia #2, by Gabriel Bá
Honestly, how can you not love this beautifully illustrated and colored Kung Fu Panda-inspired image that pits Casanova Quinn against two Ailuropoda melanoleuca?

Clive Barker’s Hellraiser #8, by Timothy Bradstreet
Humor isn’t exactly the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the Hellraiser franchise, but Timothy Bradstreet delivers the subtle laughs as Pinhead falls victim to his own pins.

Criminal: The Last of the Innocent #1, by Sean Phillips
Sean Phillips so wonderfully captures That Moment, fleeting as it often is, at a party or a club where someone (in this case a young woman) loses herself in the music, seemingly oblivious to everyone else — making it virtually impossible to take your eyes off of her.

Daredevil #1, by Paolo Rivera
Setting the tone for the relaunch, Paolo Rivera depicts a smiling Matt Murdock against an imaginative cityscape that offers a glimpse of how Daredevil perceives the world around him — already a visual hallmark of the new series. (You can see a time-lapse video of the cover’s creation here.)

Daredevil #4, by Marcos Martin
Gargantuan gun barrels stand in for skyscrapers in this Marcos Martin image, in which smoke rises from the two gun muzzles like steam from exhaust vents.

Daredevil #7, by Paolo Rivera
Last year The Amazing Spider-Man landed three covers on the list, and this year it’s Daredevil, a testament perhaps to how well the team of Mark Waid, Marcos Martin and Paolo Rivera, under the editorial guidance of Stephen Wacker, gels (Comic Book Resources chose Daredevil as the top comic of the year). Rivera’s depiction of Matt Murdock, who hasn’t had a reason to be cheery in years, grinning as he makes a snow angel atop a water tower is surprising and heartwarming. If this cover doesn’t bring a little smile to your face, I don’t know what will.

Daredevil Reborn #1, by Jock
Of course the Man Without Fear wasn’t all about wide grins and snow angels last year. Before the relaunch there was Daredevil Reborn, which debuted with this arresting image by Jock of the cable of Murdock’s broken batons stretched into an enormous body outline across what I presume is Marvel’s gritty, time-trapped version of Hell’s Kitchen.

Detective Comics #880, by Jock
Jock’s stint on the pre-launch Detective Comics produced some of the strongest work of his career, and this cover is undoubtedly the best of that run. This image of the Clown Prince of Crime is so frenetic, his rapturous gaze unnerving by even Joker standards as his broad smile reveals cracking teeth. That the upper part of his head is composed of countless bats taking flight, as if spooked, gives a sense of schizophrenia, as if the Joker is about to break away from this reality.

DMZ #61, by John Paul Leon
The massive amount of white space and the muted palette — I love the single punch of color with the flag — combine to give this J.P. Leon cover a sense of solemnity as DMZ enters its final year. I also like that series protagonist Matty Roth is made insignificant, dwarfed by the sky and nearly lost amid the clutter outside the Holland Tunnel.

DMZ, Vol. 10, by Brian Wood
I rarely select trade paperbacks as, more often than not, the covers are merely recycled from issues published the previously year. But for the 10th volume of DMZ, “Collective Punishment,” writer Brian Wood brings his bold sense of graphic design to blend photography and illustration to convey the brutal “shock and awe” bombing of Manhattan that marks this storyline.

Drums #2, by Raul Allen
The 2010 list featured two chickens — both from Chew — so it’s only fitting that this year’s installment has at least one, right? I’ve not read this Image Comics horror series, about an FBI agent assigned to investigate sudden, unexplained deaths during a Santeria ceremony, but Raul Allen’s brutal and beautiful cover makes me want to give it a try.

Fables #106, Joao Ruas
For the penultimate issue of the “Super Team” arc, Joao Ruas seems to give a nod to John Romita Sr.’s classic “Spider-Man No More” page as Ozma and Pinocchio casually walk away from what’s presumably a battlefield.

Fear Agent #31, by Tony Moore
Virtually everything about this cover — the colors, the scale, the hovercraft-riding creatures with their leaf-like tentacles — is so perfectly over the top and … well, alien.

Feeding Ground #4, by Michael Lapinski
One of my favorite cover artists to emerge in the past couple of years, Michael Lapinski has a distinctive style that, for Feeding Ground, manifests itself in bright colors — purple, magenta, orange — and woodcut-like lines. I love when humor meets horror, such as in this image, which at first glance appears to be merely the head of a rabbit piñata. But when you notice that the paper “entrails” of the bunny are being swarmed by flies, a much darker element surfaces.

Flashpoint: Deadman and the Flying Graysons #1, by Cliff Chiang and Jared K. Fletcher
That Green Lantern banner rears its ugly head again, distracting from the otherwise terrific take on a classic circus poster by artist Cliff Chiang and letterer Jared K. Fletcher.

The Goon, Vol. 5 (second edition), by Eric Powell
To be honest, I’m not sure what I can say about Eric Powell’s new cover for the second edition of The Goon: Wicked Inclinations. It’s just beautiful.

Green Wake #7, by Riley Rossmo
I find myself drawn into this haunting Riley Rossmo cover for Green Wake, the supernatural murder mystery from Image’s Shadowline imprint. The white silhouettes give the children a ghostly appearance, marred by the blood dripping from their mouths — or where there mouths would be — and down their shirts. Are they all being led to the gallows, or are they executing their sibling or classmate? And what about the man with the creepy white spectacles and impossibly long scarf? There are just so many questions …

Heart #1, by Kevin Mellon
For the first issue of a miniseries set in the world of Mixed Martial Arts, Kevin Mellon zeroes in on the perfect detail, capturing the bloody hand, the “Unbroken” wrist tattoo, the hurricane fence and the flash of lights from the arena crowd.

House of Mystery #38, by Esao Andrews
If the dripping (oozing?) blood that forms the conveniently placed image of rooftops and windows weren’t creepy enough, there’s the orchid in the woman’s hair, with a child-like sleeping skull at its center.

Iron Man Legacy #10, by Juan Doe
Last seen on the 2009 list, Juan Doe returns with this well-designed cover that places Iron Man at the center of the clock. I particularly like the retro-style dot pattern applied to Tony’s head.

iZombie #20, by Michael Allred
With all of its type and floating heads, this cover would be a disaster in the hands of a lesser artist. But Mike Allred pulls it off, delivering a terrific ode to old-school teen magazines.

Morning Glories #15, by Rodin Esquejo
As I noted last year, early into the series, Rodin Esquejo has found a way to perfectly translate to the covers the feelings of paranoia and claustrophobia the permeate Morning Glories. Here the branches and shadows are perfectly placed, drawing us to the watchful, and slightly menacing, eyes at the heart of the image.

Northlanders #45, by Massimo Carnevale
Ah, how I’ll miss Massimo Carnevale’s beautifully painted covers for Brian Wood’s Viking-era epic. For the cover of Part 4 of “The Icelandic Trilogy,” subtitled “Conversion,” Carnevale cleverly contrasts the cross in the Norseman’s hand with the symbol of the old religion on his helmet.

Ozma of Oz #5, by Skottie Young
There’s an almost-infectious sense of whimsy to Skottie Young’s Oz work, perhaps no more so than in this illustration of pint-sized blue gnomes climbing the book’s logo for the cover of Ozma of Oz #5.

Power Girl #26, by Sami Basri
I couldn’t help but chuckle when I saw this cover, which depicts Kara trying to push her way through a throng of cosplayers at the first Power Girl Convention. It’s one of those rare times we get to see “superheroines” of varying shapes and sizes.

PunisherMAX #12, by Dave Johnson
For my money, Dave Johnson’s covers for PunisherMAX have been every bit as good as his epic, celebrated run on Vertigo’s 100 Bullets. With this cover, everything works — the white space, the shadows, the dripping blood, the skeleton key (har!).

Red Skull: Incarnate #2, by David Aja
A talented artist with an eye for design, David Aja stretched his muscles with this miniseries, approaching the five covers as if they were Nazi newspapers and propaganda posters of the pre-war era. His research paid off, resulting in slick, eye-catching images that look as if they could be found in the dusty archives of a library (at least if you ignore the guy with the rather obvious red skull).

Robert Bloch’s That Hellbound Train #1, by Dave Wachter
For the adaptation of the 1958 deal-with-the-Devil short story, Dave Wachter goes with a looming sinister locomotive — it’s black in the original version but red here — billowing otherwordly steam that takes the form of an ominous skull (unfortunately mostly obscured by the logo).

Rocketeer Adventures #1, by Alex Ross
If you’re looking to have your hero portrayed, well, heroically, you really can’t do much better than Alex Ross. That combination of photorealism, noble pose and Hollywood lighting pushes all the right nostalgia buttons, making him ideal to tackle Dave Stevens’ beloved homage to classic matinee heroes.

Secret Avengers #18, by David Aja
David Aja delivers an atypical cover that displays a surprising feeling of motion as the dual image and purposely out-of-register color evokes an old film reel. We’re seeing a moment in time, rather than a posed snapshot, as Shang Chi’s blurred fist seemingly disappears into his opponent’s face,  like two frames from a Bruce Lee movie.

Spaceman #3, by Dave Johnson
Dave Johnson is nothing if not versatile, recalling 1950s science fiction novels in his covers for Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso’s series about a hulking man genetically engineered by NASA to live and work on Mars.

Spider-Island: I Love New York City #1, by Mike Del Mundo
While Mike Del Mundo’s cover for The Amazing Spider-Man #666, the start of the “Spider-Island” storyline, was much more somber, for this tie-in he plays up the lighthearted aspect, with New Yorkers enjoying their new-found spider-powers. A cat even gets in on the act.

The Strange Talent of Luther Strode #2, by Tradd Moore
There’s just enough humor in the faces of the onlookers to diffuse the horror of the students’ see-through skins, exposing the musculature beneath. But the neatest aspect of the cover may be in the coloring: amid all the reds, Luther, basked in cool blue, remains the center of attention.

The Unwritten #29, by Yuko Shimizu
Yuko Shimizu’s entire run on Vertigo’s The Unwritten has been stellar; I can’t think of a single one of her covers that didn’t fire on all cylinders. For the third part of the “On to Genesis” storyline, which takes Tom Taylor to the 1930s, Shimizu channels the pulps of the era. The cover blurbs really clinch the deal.

Walt Disney’s Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes, by Carl Barks and Jacob Covey
Fantagraphics Books’ lead designer Jacob Covey carries over the color palette from the interior pages — lots of cyans and yellows in those old strips, recolored for the collection by Rich Tommaso — for this sophisticated but playful cover to a volume that includes Carl Barks’ favorite Donald Duck story.

Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse, Vol. 2: Trapped on Treasure Island, by Floyd Gottfredson and Jacob Covey
I could’ve just as easily used the cover of Vol. 1, “Race to Death Valley,” to represent designer Jacob Covey’s refreshing and modern-yet-somehow-still-classic packaging for Floyd Gottfredson’s nearly 80-year-old comic strips, but an elated Horace Horsecollar trumps an anguished Mickey Mouse any day.

Wonder Woman #3, by Cliff Chiang
For the issue that demolishes Diana’s decades-old origin — the one in which she was molded from clay by her mother Hippolyta and given life by the gods — Cliff Chiang shatters a statue of the Amazonian princess.

Zatanna #13, by Adam Hughes
Adam Hughes had done his homework, transforming the imagery of early 20th-century magic posters — the Devil, laughing skeleton, numbers, child-like demons — into something thoroughly modern and, given Zatanna’s stage career, apropos.

Mighty 7

It’s been almost two years since A Squared Entertainment and Archie Comics announced they were teaming up with Stan Lee and POW! Entertainment to create a comic called Super Seven — not to be confused with the cartoon of the same name or the toy company with a similar name that filed suit for trademark infringement.

Now it looks like the project is finally going to see the light of day, although with a different name, as Stan Lee’s Mighty 7 is showing up on the Previews World site. The story involves seven aliens landing on Earth who are taught to be superheroes by Stan Lee himself. Alex Saviuk is penciling the book and drew both of its covers (You can find the variant cover for the book after the jump).

Look for it in March.

*****

Earlier this week Marvel sent out the cover to Avengers vs. X-Men #0, which kicks off their big round-robin crossover by Brian Michael Bendis, Jonathan Hickman, Jason Aaron and a slew of other big-name creators.

The cover they sent out by Frank Cho has a fairly large “A vs. X” logo covering up some of Cho’s artwork, so if you’re curious to see what — and who — is under the logo, Cho has shared the logo-less artwork on his blog. Hey look, it’s Ultron!

The #0 issue by Bendis, Aaron and Cho comes out in March.

Daredevil #10

Paolo Rivera, part of the creative team who have made Daredevil one of this year’s stellar comics, shares the somewhat-creepy cover to Daredevil #10. It looks like Daredevil crosses sticks with the Mole Man and his moloids (as he did on the cover to issue #9), who in recent months have popped up all over the Marvel Universe. These moloids don’t look near as friendly as the ones who adopted the Hulk, however.

Youngblood

Creators | With the announcement that Rob Liefeld’s Extreme Studios is back in business, former Extreme Studios employee and current Image Comics publisher Eric Stephenson reflects on his time with the studio. “From 1992-1998, Extreme Studios was more or less my life. Youngblood, Supreme, Brigade, Bloodstrike, Team Youngblood, New Men, Prophet, Youngblood: Strikefile, Bloodpool, Glory… We put out a lot of comics, and for the most part everyone involved was incredibly young. Rob and I were amongst the oldest at 25. So many of the artists involved in various aspects of production were just out of their teens, and that made the work as frustrating as it was fun. But looking back, the main thing I remember about that time is Rob wanted to share his success with people who loved comics and wanted to make a living in the business as much as he had.” [It Sparkles!]

Webcomics | A Distant Soil creator Colleen Doran, who began serializing the comic online in 2009, notes “my bottom line is up significantly, and my online audience is ten times higher than when I started the five day a week online serialization of A Distant Soil 2.5 years ago.” She also shares advice she received when she started the endeavor that hasn’t worked for her. [A Distant Soil]

Tom Morello

Creators | Orchid writer and musician Tom Morello shares his thoughts on his new book, politics and social issues in comics, and the story in Action Comics #900 that featured Superman renouncing his citizenship, among other topics. [Vulture]

Creators | Speaking of politics in comics, Marzena Sowa talks to Hero Complex about her upcoming Vertigo graphic novel Marzi: “When I started to write Marzi, the first stories concerned my daily life in Poland: I wrote about my family, my neighbors. Then, progressively, political questions started to appear and I realized that the politics had so much space in my childhood life I hadn’t even imagined. Marzi is getting bigger, and her curiosity and will to understand the world is getting bigger too. She feels concerned by the world and she tries to understand it — understand why it doesn’t work correctly. At a certain point she starts to speak, she is not only a mute witness of what is happening in her country. She starts also to claim her own freedom; but for instance she is maybe too small to be heard by her parents, but she won’t give it up.” [Hero Complex]

Creators | The New York Times profiles the husband-and-wife cartooning duo Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman. [The New York Times]

Creators | Phil Hester and Jonathan Lau discuss their work on Dynamite’s Bionic Man comic book. [TFAW]

Creators | Mark Waid talks about his work on Marvel’s recent revival of the CrossGen title Ruse. [Mulholland Books]

The Death-Ray

Creators | Daniel Clowes talks about re-release of “The Death Ray” and his “drift toward more sympathetic figures” in his work: “I decided at a certain point that one of my goals is to find a way to connect with the characters no matter how awful they may seem or how hard they are to be around, to try to look at their humanity and find a way to love them by the end.” [Montreal Gazette]

Creators | Jonathan Liu catches up with Anya’s Ghost creator Vera Brosgol after sitting on a panel with her at Portland, Oregon’s Wordstock. [Wired]

Creators | Underground comics legend Robert Crumb shares his other “passion” — early 20th-century popular music. [BlogCritics]

Creators | Robin Furth discusses adapting Stephen King’s The Dark Tower to the comics medium, collaborating with Peter David, and Stephen King’s thoughts and involvement. [Biff Bam Pop! - part 1, part 2]

Comics | Saladin Ahmed looks at four of comics legend Jack Kirby’s “most ethnically adventurous creations” — The Thing, the Howling Commandos, Black Panther and The Black Racer. [tor.com]

Black Hood

Comics | The Beast Must Die at the Mindless Ones blog looks back at Mark Wheatley and Rick Burchett’s covers for Black Hood, from DC’s early 1990s !mpact line [Mindless Ones]

Commentary | Robot 6′s own Sean T. Collins reviews Brian Ralph’s Daybreak. [The Comics Journal]

Fandom | Looking for a Halloween costume? Found Item Clothing details 34 pop culture costumes you can make on your own, including Wonder Woman and Charlie Brown. [Found Item Clothing]

Robots | The Calgary Sun spotlights Phil Allen, who created a giant robot he hopes to sell to help pay for his wife’s liberation treatment for multiple sclerosis. “Science fiction has been talking about robots for 70 years and now I know why there aren’t any … It’s a huge undertaking when you decide to build one.” [Calgary Sun]

Blue Devil by Indigo Kelleigh

With DC’s “New 52″ titles hitting in a few short weeks, cartoonist Jon Morris has recruited a whole bunch of indie comic artists to put their own spin on what the relaunch could have looked like. Today he officially launched DC Fifty-TOO!, a blog that will feature mock relaunch covers by T.J.Kirsch, Marc Palm, Ryan Cody, Thomas Perkins, Robert Wilson IV, Matthew Allison and Benjamin Marra, among others. Morris asked them the question, “If DC approached you and offered you any DC property – past or present – of your choice to be your own new ongoing part of the DC Universe, what would the cover to the first issue look like?”

The first cover, featuring Blue Devil, is by Indigo Kelleigh, co-founder of Stumptown Comic Fest and creator of The Adventures of Ellie Connelly. Expect some others later today, with many more on the way.

Fantagraphics has revealed the final cover to Walt Disney’s Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes, the first volume in their series of Carl Barks collections. In addition, you can get a good look at the cover and spine courtesy of a brochure they published to promote the book.

This volume will include:

• The title story, “Lost in the Andes.”
• Two stories co-starring Gladstone, including “Race to the South Seas.”
• Two Christmas stories, including “The Golden Christmas Tree.”
• Several Donald stories, including ones where he plays a TV quiz show contestant and ends up encased in a giant barrel of Jell-O, a truant officer who matches wits with his nephews, and a ranch hand who outwits cattle rustlers.

Lost in the Andes also features an introduction by noted Barks scholar Donald Ault, and detailed commentary/annotations for each story at the end of the book, written by the foremost Barks authorities in the world.

In addition, they’ve also revealed the cover to the second volume of their Floyd Gottfredson/Mickey Mouse collections:

Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: Trapped on Treasure Island by Floyd Gottfredson

Both covers were designed by Jacob Covey.

Amazing Spider-Man #49

Heritage Auctions expects the original art for the cover to Amazing Spider-Man #49 to go for around $100,000 when it goes up for auction later this month.

Drawn by John Romita Sr., the cover features Kraven the Hunter and the Vulture double-teaming Spider-Man. According to Ed Jaster, senior vice president at Heritage Auctions, it’s only the second cover by Romita they’ve offered for auction.

In addition to the Spider-Man cover, several other comic-related items will go up for bid in Heritage Auctions’ Signature Vintage Comics & Comic Art Auction on Aug. 17-18. These include Victor Moscoso’s original treatment for the wraparound cover to Zap Comix #4, Steve Ditko’s original art for page 17 of The Amazing Spider-Man #12, a George Herriman hand-colored Krazy Kat Sunday comic strip and a page of art from an unpublished Superman story by Joe Shuster, Paul Cassidy and Wayne Boring.

Action Comics #1

DC Comics sent word today (and posted on The Source) that DC Direct and Graphitti Designs will sell limited edition portfolios featuring all of the first-issue covers from their September relaunch at the San Diego Comic Con. To get all of them, it sounds like you’ll be spending a lot of time at the Graphitti booth:

On Thursday through Sunday a different portfolio volume containing 13 covers will go on sale each day in the Graphitti Designs booth for $39.95. These portfolios will provide fans and attendees with something special to have their favorite DC Comics writer and artist to sign at Comic-Con. Only 520 copies of each volume will be available per day – be sure to get your copy before they sell out so you can collect all four!

Each piece of art is 9” x 12”. The list of what covers will come in each set can be found after the jump.

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Portfolio Set 1
Justice League
Action Comics
Animal Man
Batgirl
Batwing
Detective Comics
Green Arrow
Hawk & Dove
Justice League International
Men of War
O.M.A.C
Static Shock
StormWatch
Swamp Thing

Portfolio Set 2
Batman and Robin
Batwoman
Deathstroke
Demon Knights
Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE
Green Lantern
Grifter
Legion Lost
Mister Terrific
Red Lanterns
Resurrection Man
Suicide Squad
Superboy

Portfolio Set 3
Batman
Birds of Prey
Blue Beetle
Captain Atom
Catwoman
DC Universe Presents
Green Lantern Corps
Legion of Super-Heroes
Nightwing
Red Hood and the Outlaws
Supergirl
Wonder Woman

Portfolio Set 4
All-Star Western
Aquaman
Batman: The Dark Knight
Blackhawks
The Flash
The Fury of Firestorm
Green Lantern: The New Guardians
I, Vampire
Justice League Dark
Superman
Teen Titans
The Savage Hawkman
Voodoo

Flashpoint #2 variant cover

Ouch. Above is the variant cover to Flashpoint #2 by Ivan Reis and George Perez. I wonder where the rest of Mera could be … maybe in a refrigerator?

Brightest Day Aftermath: The Search for Swamp Thing

Although they previously teased it with two characters blacked out, DC Comics has now released the full covers (plural) for the first issue of Brightest Day Aftermath: The Search for Swamp Thing.

The above cover by Ardian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes’ is the book’s final cover, with John Constantine and Zatanna appearing where big blobs of black once dwelled. And after the jump is J.G. Jones’ variant cover, featuring Batman, Swamp Thing and Constantine.

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Strange Adventures #1

Vertigo has released the cover and more details on Strange Adventures, the science fiction anthology they plan to publish in May.

The cover, above, is by Paul Pope, and as previously reported, the first issue will include a chapter of Spaceman by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso, which will get its own series from Vertigo in the fall. Other contributors include Jeff Lemire, Ross Campbell, Kevin Colden, Peter Milligan, Paul Cornell, Denys Cowan and many others. You can find the complete table of contents after the jump.

Table of Contents:

“All The Pretty Ponies”
Writer Lauren Beukes
Artist Inaki Miranda

“The White Room”
Writer Talia Hershewe
Artist Juan Bobillo

“Case 21”
Writer Selwyn Hinds
Artist Denys Cowan

“Postmodern Prometheus”
Writer and Artist Kevin Colden

“Ultra The Multi-Alien”
Writer and Artist Jeff Lemire

“Refuse”
Writer and Artist Ross Campbell

“Partners”
Writer Peter Milligan
Artist Sylvain Savoia

“A ‘True Tale’ From Saucer Country”
Writer Paul Cornell
Artist Goran Sudzuka

“Spaceman”
Writer Brian Azzarello
Artist Eduardo Risso

Red Skull Incarnate

Much like he did for his 5 Ronin covers, artist David Aja has posted his preliminary sketches for his Red Skull Incarnate covers, for which he pulled inspiration from Nazi war propaganda posters.

“I did extensive research into historical documents for the styles,” he said on his blog. “In order to make that work, I used different typographies each issue, emulating different typefaces in real work; so I needed a uniform tone, technique and color in the finished art to identify all the covers as a whole collection.”

The five-issue miniseries by writer Greg Pak and artist Mirko Colak kicks off in July.

Brilliant #2

Over on his Facebook page, writer Brian Michael Bendis shares the cover to issue #2 of Brilliant, the new series he co-created with artist Mark Bagley for Marvel’s Icon line.

The comic, about a group of students who “invent” super powers, kicks off in July.

Best American Comics 2011

Skim creator Jillian Tamaki, whose upcoming Awago Beach Babies is due in 2013, is providing the cover for this year’s Best American Comics volume. She shares the final artwork, plus some initial sketches for other cover ideas, on her blog. The 2011 volume is guest-edited by Alison Bechdel, who joins series editors Jessica Abel and Matt Madden.

Rachel Rising

With Echo wrapping up soon, Terry Moore announced his next title, Rachel Rising, last month, and now he’s revealed the first issue’s cover on Twitter.

“Rachel is a woman who wakes up one morning in the woods and realizes that she’s sitting on a freshly dug shallow grave,” he told Comic Book Resources’ Kiel Phegley. “She freaks out, digs up some of the dirt and realizes the person in the grave is her. The story goes from there, showing how she goes back into down to figure out what’s going on. This is a woman who has died, but she’s back. And she remembers who killed her. That’s the starting point for the first issue.”

And it explains the cover. The first issue is due in July.