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Comic Book Preview: 8/1/12

Comic Books

Comic Book Preview: 8/1/12

After making your comic book list it’s time to check it twice against our Monday Tuesday Comic Book Preview. We ogle everything being released this week and make separate piles for our favorite and least favorite covers. Scroll down for some comic cover action!

Dave’s Pick


Mortifera #1


Comic Book Preview: 8/1/12

Sarah Partington

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Dave: This cover screams, “I’m a manga, read me!” I love the use of red on the demon and skulls in the background. That accent highlights the demon, but doesn’t overpower the imagery. The white sword logo helps accentuate each piece of of this positively sick armor. Also, skulls cast in shadow can’t lose! This was recently picked up by a comic book publishing company so three cheers for indie comics!

Brendan: This cover is really cool. I love the skull silhouettes in both the foreground and background. The characters look cool and interesting and the overall style of the cover really draws you in. These guys deserved to be picked up.

Brendan’s Pick


Avengers vs X-Men #9


Comic Book Preview: 8/1/12

Jim Cheung

Brendan: And it all comes down to Spider-Man. I love this cover for several reasons. Aesthetically it has a great use of darker colors to symbolize the trying times ahead. Spidey’s figure really reads “down but not out” and while there isn’t much background detail the quality of the foreground art more than makes up for it.

Thematically, this cover delves deep. The pose here is what I would refer to as classic Peter Parker pose. He looks like he’s been blown to hell. His shoulder is dislocated, his suit is destroyed yet all you can read on his face is “Get up. Don’t stop.” Spidey is by no means a normal guy, but when it comes to power levels on a cosmic scale, he’s down there with Jubilee. What makes him important is despite being the every-man of our story, he will face the odds with everything he has. He is the proof that even one man can make a difference.

Dave: Like some kind of cheesecake cover, Marvel sure does love to shred Spidey’s clothes. The smoke billowing from the fire adds a certain sense of calm before the storm that heightens the drama. I’m not a huge fan of this cover though as I’m not sure what it is he’s looking at. Without his eyes there’s no clear expression of fear. The mouth and body language say, “ouch” but where is the “uh oh”?

Dave’s Honorable Mentions


Age of Apocalypse #6


Comic Book Preview: 8/1/12

Humberto Ramos

Dave: Ramos could draw every Marvel comic cover and I wouldn’t mind. I love the idea of Colossus punching the optic beam right out of Cyclops’ stupid head. There isn’t much wasted space on this cover and all the action is bringing our eyes down with the punch. It screams, “K.O.!”

Brendan: Yeah! Fuck you, Cyclops! I was never a huge fan the Age of Apocalypse redesigns, but Ramos makes them look bad ass. This a great moment frozen within the action. Not only did Peter just clock Cyke (on his bad eye!), but you can see punch number two locked and loaded. I love it.


The Defenders #9


Comic Book Preview: 8/1/12

Terry Dodson

Dave: The Defenders are lost in “infinite space-time” and the negative space works wonders to explain it. This effect has been used a few times in this series and every single time it captures the imagination and the fun this book consistently delivers. The purple clouds at top help further accentuate the erasure of the heroes.

Brendan: I think the blank character outlines are a neat idea, although the characters seem to be stuck in classic “comic team” pose. The background seems a bit busy and I think that the stoic expressions on Namor and Strange make the cover a bit stagnant.


Hawkeye #1


Comic Book Preview: 8/1/12

David Aja

Dave: The purple bullseyes have a faint, “these were inserted because it’s super hard to make Hawkeye look cool shooting an arrow,” but I dig them immensely. They really add a pop feel while the jagged wooden boards pointing at Hawkeye send the viewers eyes to that area of the cover. This cover wonderfully captures that hushed moment in an action flick where everyone is holding their breathe.

Brendan: Did anybody else think they were looking at a Target ad, for a second there? I think this cover is pretty boring. The purple and blue targets, despite referencing Hawkeyes classic costume, seem odd and out of place in the black and white world. Hawkeye’s pose is pretty decent but I feel like that arrow should have a different trajectory after analyzing the shooter’s position.

Brendan’s Honorable Mentions


Mind the Gap #3 (Variant Cover)


Comic Book Preview: 8/1/12

Skottie Young

Brendan: I love Skottie Young’s innocent yet deviant style. His characters are always interesting to examine and I’m normally a big fan of his color selection. I always find his art to be fun and interesting.

Dave: His style has been so entrenched as the Wizard of Oz comic book look I actually thought it was from that series. Hell it even has checkered patterns and a scary Cheshire Cat man. Pretty beautiful.


Harvest #1


Comic Book Preview: 8/1/12

Colin Lorimer

Brendan: That eye pierces directly into your soul. I love the cold, dank colors that shade this wonderful art. There’s great attention to detail from the child’s hair to the oxygen tank to the radiator in the back. This cover is cool and creepy.

Dave: What gets me is the perfect combo of fierce eyes and the foreshadowing of a violent tug that’s about to commence.


Higher Earth #3


Comic Book Preview: 8/1/12

Riley Rossmo

Brendan: Normally, the way to go with a formidable monster is to present the person’s point of view trembling beneath the epic beast. I think I prefer this vantage point which depicts how small and insignificant they man and woman are when compared to the sheer size of that gaping maw. Don’t even fight, you two! Just run!

Dave: Yeah, give the enormous, angry beast the universal stop signal with your hand. What is this guy, a traffic cop by day? Despite his asininity, this cover is still well done. Love the dirty purple streaks along the ground that further reinforce the impression of how trapped the two protagonists are.

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.


GI Combat #4


Comic Book Preview: 8/1/12

Alberto Ponticelli

Dave: What did that dino ever do to you? The poor frightened dinosaur appears to have just been chilling, enjoying the extra warm weather of the distant past, probably warming its eggs and loving life. Then some G.I. Jerks show up, storm in smashing down trees and ruin his day. It’s like they caught the poor dino in the shower or something.

Brendan: I bet that Dinosaur feels exactly how the people of Iraq felt in ‘03.


First X-Men #1


Comic Book Preview: 8/1/12

Christos Gage

Brendan: Uhh… Wolvie; something is wrong with your face… and your claws. And where did you get that little boy, while we’re at it? This cover is just weird.

Dave: Since when did Logan sport a Beatles bowl cut? Also it’s probably a tad dangerous to be running with a child in your arms whilst fully unloaded claws are protruding from your hands.


Green Arrow #12


Comic Book Preview: 8/1/12

Harvey Tolibao

Dave: Let’s set aside the fact that these Chinese martial artists are chubby as hell which reduces the excitement in their belly flops on Green Arrow. What the hell is wrong with Green Arrow’s legs? Either his left leg is SUPER long, so long that the depth of field is making his ankle and foot tiny since it’s so distant, or he’s got some major bone deterioration. Tell this guy calf implants are no longer in as well, because those puppies are most definitely stuffed.

Brendan: Everybody’s proportions are way off and I don’t like it. Then there’s the subject matter. Oliver is impaling chubby Buddhist monks? What for? It’s as if DC comics wants to keep Green Arrow as their most uninteresting character.


Mondo #3


Comic Book Preview: 8/1/12

Ted McKeever

Dave: I’ve read the first two installments of this series and while the art has been out of control fun, the story has been a big mess. Much like this cover. What the fuck is going on here? Mondo is picking his ear with a god damn chicken, his head is impossibly turned and he’s drawing the girl… just, why? Truly creepy cover that makes zero sense. But maybe that’s the point.

Brendan: Maybe it’s the nonsensical nature of this cover that makes it so creepy? That eerie grin gives me the heebie jeebies.

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