It’s Monday; do you know where your comic book covers are? Don’t you worry, we’ve got em all corralled up here. Scroll down to see why we chose what we chose, along with honorable mentions and some less desirables.

Dave’s Pick

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Damaged #6 (of 6)

Alex Maleev

Dave: Alex Maleev for the win! This guy sure can paint and he doesn’t waste an inch on this cover. I love the use of all the different shades of blue, the bullet rippling through the water and the explosion going on at the top right. Great stuff.

Brendan: This cover is all sorts of pretty. Really great use of colors to display the depth of the photo. I love the red blood cloud slowly turning purple in the cool blue waters.

Brendan’s Pick

Voodoo #10

Cliff Chiang

Brendan: Dat Voodoo. For me, Paulo Siqueira completes the Cheesecake trinity of comic book artists, which of course also includes Cho and Hughes. Yet, despite there being a sessy lady in a distressed position as the focus the cover, its real beauty lies with the characters that live in the purple background. Each beast is expertly penciled with individual characteristics. Every spot of artwork on this page is gorgeous.

Dave: I’m a big fan of purple, which puts this in my good graces to start. Aside from the baffling Captain Hook at the bottom this is a really nice cover made almost to look like a wallpaper with the background characters.

Dave’s Honorable Mentions

Batman Incorporated #2 (Variant)

Cameron Stewart

Dave: This isn’t the most conventional cover; in fact, it’s reminiscent of a movie poster with the floating heads, but I like it due to the gorgeous rendition of Talia al Ghul. The flowing hair, dress and bloodied knife give her a mystical, “I-just-came-from-a-sex-ritual” feel. The blood on the dress is also a nice choice.

Brendan: This was my top pick until Daaaaaave got dibs on it first. I love the cover. Talia is bangin’ and the good/evil contrast between the faces of Batman and Ra’s is top notch. I love it.

Dave: No joke, this was my top pick…until Damaged stole my heart.

Prophet #26

Brandon Graham

Dave: Prophet has had some great covers in the last few months and while I’m not entirely sure what I’m looking at, I still love it nonetheless. The mechanized planet is made awe-inspiring due to the spear towers that are piercing the clouds.

Brendan: In a single image, Mr. Graham has created an entire world in my mind. I love the cluttered metallic entrails of the front tower-thing. The details are just fantastic.

Incredible Hulk #10

Shane Davis, Mark Morales

Dave: Jason Aaron is doing something special with Incredible Hulk the last two months and based on this cover… we’re gonna get some brainless action with bear cyborgs! What a bastard Hulk is, punching an innocent bear right in the face. Sure, the bear is probably as evil as Skynet, but this cover gets me all sorts of excited for the silly fun inside.

Brendan: You put bears on a cover, I want to read your comic. It’s that simple. I’ve long been a believer that the reason the Hulk is a great character is because of the ridiculous things that can happen within his comic books. He shouldn’t be moody and gritty like the first two Hulk movies. He should be fun and entertaining like Whedon’s Hulk. Whedon’s Hulk would fight cyber-bears.

X-Men Legacy #269

Mark Brooks

Dave: I know, I know, we picked a similar “break through the paper” cover in our WTF section last week, but this one actually makes sense. Ms. Marvel is literally inside Rogue’s head, so the tearing of the cover is symbolic to the story and her breaking free of Rogue. I also love Rogue’s utter panic and fearful expression.

Brendan: I wasn’t crazy about this cover when I first saw it. Dave’s explanation of the story behind it helps a bit, but I’m still not sold. It’s just a gimmick that has been used far too often for far too long.

Spaceman #7 (of 9)

Dave Johnson



Dave: Dave Johnson is a consistent pick in our previews and here he is again making me geek out. I love the idea of astronauts at high noon, shooting each other down in the street/rubble of our dystopian future. The cracked visor with the leaking red bloodsmoke is super creepy too.

Brendan: The red coming from the shattered helmet (I assume it’s an artistic form of freshly shot brain-juice) is really cool. The small touches in the far background really make for a complete environment.

Brendan’s Honorable Mentions

Amazing Spider-Man #688

Stefano Caselli

Brendan: I just love how vicious this cover is. Yet, at the same time, it isn’t quite pushing the boundaries of gratuity. With a cover that depicts Spidey’s jugular being ripped apart, you are immediately put in a position where anything can happen within the pages of the book.

Dave: I probably eyeballed this cover for a good five minutes with most of that time focused on the hands of Lizard. Notice the fingers/claws, they appear as if they are handling Spidey delicately—a stark contrast to the whole throat chomping. Very creepy addition.

All Star Western #10

Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez

Brendan: This is a great action shot taken by a not-often seen perspective. The bit of red from the poker chips and the signage (Wayne Casino, cute) adds a nice touch of color.

Dave: Oh wow, I didn’t even notice the Wayne Casino there. I love the cards floating in the air. Gives everything a nice slow motion feel.

Batman: The Dark Knight #10

David Finch

Brendan: Here’s another gruesome cover that I really dig. The stitching and yellow eyes makes for a really freaky Scarecrow-Batman hybrid that I would not like to meet in a dark alley. It sets a great tone for this Scarecrow-centric story.

Dave: Is it just me or do the stitches make up a bat symbol? I like the coloring here as well.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #11

Kevin Eastman

Brendan: One thing that occasionally gets left behind when thinking of our favorite mutants is that THEY ARE MUTANTS. At best they probably would come off as terrifying nightmare-fuel and this cover catches that pretty well. Those are three… things that I would not mess with.

Dave: Those gums on the bottom left really bother me which goes along with what Brendan is saying. The framing of the mutants is also exceptionally well done here. My only gripe… if they’re high enough to be near gargoyles… won’t they go splat when jumping from the building? They aren’t invulnerable.

WTF? Category

Where we don’t understand, are insulted by or would rather stab our eyes with acid pops than look at these covers for various reasons.

Wolverine and the X-Men #12

Nick Bradshaw

Dave: I get it. The Avengers are fighting Kid Gladiator so he’s the center of attention. That said, why the hell is Cap straddling Thing’s head? This is a lazy blob of characters. If a fan traced this and in their rendition took off their clothes you could easily turn this into a fan fiction orgy shot. Just sayin’.

Brendan: If you have a chance to take a ride on the Thing’s shoulders, you take that ride. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Walter Koenig Things To Come #3

Juan Baez

Dave: The synopsis intros my feelings for this cover nicely. It reads: Human killing human. Vampire killing vampire. Disorder into derangement. Anarchy into chaos… They forgot covers killing retinas. This cover makes me confused in all the bad ways.

Brendan: The colors used here are a bit simple, as are the figures. It has the look of an indie comic. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Batman Incorporated #2

Chris Burnham

Brendan: So I haven’t read issue one of this series, but my major question is, what’s up with the happy medusa monster in the background? Also, Mr. Burnham looks like he was trying to pull off some Frank Quitely art but hasn’t quite figured it out. Damian’s little pudgy face really rubs me the wrong way.

Dave: I think it might be a symbolic representation of Leviathan. I’d say this cover is lunacy, but that’s something Morrison typically seems to aim for with his Batman books (and handles well). Burnham is definitely pulling for a Quietly feel in this book that’s for sure.