Complex.com’s Best Comics Covers of the Year
December 15, 2009 | Posted by Chris Sims
‘Tis the season for yearly Best Of lists to start cropping up with alarming regularity, and today on Complex.com, ex-Comic Foundry honcho Tim Leong has put together a list of this year’s 50 Best Comic Book Covers, as voted on by a panel of experts!
A panel, of course, that includes me.
The process involved the contributors voting on a list prepared by Tim and then writing blurbs for a few of them–I got assigned the cover to Batgirl #3, which I actually do like and which represents what might be the only time you’ll see me writing something nice about Stephanie Brown–but as it was a vote, a lot of my top picks for the year didn’t quite make the cut, so I thought I’d share a couple here:
Models Inc. #4, by Scott Clark: The other day on Twitter, Tim–a magazine art director by trade–said that he hates it when comics artists try to do magazine-style layouts as much as comics artists hate it when magazines try to look like comic pages, which I assume is quite a bit. Usually I’m right there with him–this year’s Astro City: Astra specials were a mess–but Models Inc really nailed it, and it didn’t hurt that the cover blurbs were all pretty funny Marvel Universe in-jokes.
Layout aside, though, Scott Clark just draws really nice ladies. I’ve been pretty up-front about my affection for cheesecake art before–Dave Stevens’ Bettie-heavy Rocketeer art
So why #4, and not #3′s equally well-done cover with Mary Jane? Because straight up: Hedy Wolfe could double for the Baroness on this cover, and that’s real.
Another one that I liked that didn’t make it through because it’s a paperback (rather than a comic):
Solomon Kane v.1: The Castle of the Devil, by Mike Mignola: I’m pretty sure that nobody needs me to tell them Mignola’s a hell of an artist at this point (No pun intended. Promise.) but it’s the retro faux-Gold Key layout of this thing that really sells it, and it’s perfect for something that’s rooted in pulp fiction.
Aside from those two, most of the ones I like actually did make it into the article; my top two picks were Dave Johnson’s propaganda-inspired GI Joe piece and the oh-so-gorgeous Invincible Iron Man (featuring Futura), and there’s a lot of good stuff in there to round it out.
So check it out, and feel free to leave a comment over there debating our picks!
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17 Comments »
Your panel picture looks quite humorous, and not just in a ironic, silly fat human way.
Great list, but I’m a little disappointed to see no love for Planetary #27.
And as soon as I post that, I notice that it’s on the list. God, I’m stupid.
“WHEN YOU RIDE ALONE, YOU RIDE WITH DESTRO.”
Oh, damn, I love you.
PS
And to top it all off, I bet his helmet charges the battery, too.
I’m going to be real with you, Chris. Your commentary on the list was solid and you didn’t choose the entire list, but the fact that not a single Quitely Batman and Robin cover made the cut is unforgivable.
The above comment is painfully true. The cover to Batman and Robin number one is one of the best things I have seen on Earth, in all my 19 years.
Those Iron Man covers are gorgeous. I wouldn’t want every cover to be in that style but it works perfectly for Iron Man. I don’t even like the character and they’ve caught my interest.
Funny, you see the Baroness, I see Sophie Ellis-Bextor…
Lots of bland covers on the list. My favorite cover of the year was PunisherMax #2.
Batman and Robin #3 also, the unintentional/intentional Killing Joke homage was also brilliant. I think maybe if the Wolverine covers were on books about Wolverine it would’ve been legit. Unless in that issue of spiderman wolverine plays poker and I missed it which is very possible. But like I told you, good catch on the Batgirl cover, I hadn’t seen it until this list and couldn’t agree more with you.
I didn’t see that Models Inc cover before, but that’s pretty well done. It also helps that jokes about Nico ‘not so much a fashion victim as a fashion genocide’ Minoru are always to be encouraged – Marvel will go to bat to decry marijuana usage, but heartily endorses teenage emos making their own clothes?
What the hell, Marvel?
For the record, the Mignola “Solomon Kane” cover beats the pants off the one they actually picked for the list, as I’m sure you recognize. Just sayin’, is all.
As I’m clicking through this, I stop at the Street Fighter cover. My first thought: “Sims *must* have reviewed this one.”
And lookee there!
No Batman and Robin #6. Oh Tim, how can you just leave me standing?
I know, I’m a heartbreaker.
Chris, seriously, women with painted-on outfits who are actually nekkid? In MY comics? No way!
Isn’t that pretty much the default? Shirts in nature sort of don’t hug boobs like they do in comics, nor buttcheeks either. Awesomely, Empowered is one of the best at looking like she’s wearing fabric, if super-thin.
Also got that going on with the Gotham Sirens cover, except its the entire structure of Harley’s ankle through her nominal “boot.”