Comic Cover of the Week

Tough choice this week.

Here are the top three contenders, powerful covers all:

First is Firestorm 16:



The use of light and color is excellent, and power fairly crackles off the page. The only flaw is the composition---it's too centered, too symmetrical.

Next up is Detective Comics 809:



This is a startling, effective image, but the Bat logo in human blood is over-the-top, if gripping. The domino mask clearly knocked off Robin's face likewise points to a very violent end for the Caped Crusader's sidekick. Note how the skewed position of Robin's body makes the image all the more eyecatching and disturbing.

This is the work of an artist who really knows their stuff, although the gruesomeness of the image ultimately repels me.

Finally, here is Spider-Girl 89, a composition whose subject matter mirrors Detective Comics 809:



This image for me has it all. It is gripping, with strong emotional resonance, yet it's not violent at all. This looks like the work of Pat Oliffe, the regular Spider-Girl artist whose cartoony style is simple yet effective. Note how he hints at the violence of the flower girl's end and the jagged pain Spider-Girl feels simply by outlining the figures with a jagged, electric line. The only downside for me is the unnecessary title at the left with the tacky down arrow motif. It is unnecessary, as one can determine by blocking it out with your fingers. I doubt that this was the artist's choice---it seems tacked on, possibly by an editor fearful the reader wouldn't quite get the point.

Nonetheless, I'm going to give Spider-Girl 89 the nod this week.