Cover Fire 7/26/2023
The Most Fire Cover From This Wednesday’s Releases
7/26/2023
NO INCENTIVE VARIANTS OR STORE EXCLUSIVE VARIANTS ARE COVERED IN THIS ARTICLE. THIS FEATURE IS ABOUT COVER AESTHETICS, ONLY, AND HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SPEC.
HOWEVER… For this week’s INCENTIVES and EXCLUSIVES needs, check out the weekly “COVER LOVERS” podcast with TEAM NERD HERD and me, RIGHT NOW!
Weekly Rundown…
Welcome back to another week of Cover Fire, ladies and gents! If you’re like me, you are sick and tired of hearing about SDCC and the books associated with it. Luckily, we do NOT cover exclusives and incentives in this article. Thus, we are SDCC free, here. Phew!!! Here are a few notes for the week before we dive in.
Lots of covers for the week. The “Worth a 2nd Look” section is particularly stacked (18 covers in there! Woh!)
I actually don’t love a Monstress cover for the first time in… ever.
DC is doubling down… triple… quadrupling down on Knight Terrors. Yikes!
That Silk Pirate cover is an interesting concept. Not sure what it’s doing on a Silk book, though.
Lots of near hits this week, but most things look like rehashed stuff. I guess that’s what we should expect coming off of SDCC.
Let’s dive in…
And this week’s winner is…
Victory #2d
PUBLISHED: Dynamite – 7/26/23
ARTIST: Carla Cohen
Yep! Gorgeous. Take it all in. Cohen is a magician. No other piece of art even comes remotely close to this one, this week. This is a master class in anatomy and lighting and it might be Carla’s best cover… ever (and that is saying A LOT)!
*****
RUNNERS UP
*****
X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023 #1h
PUBLISHED: Marvel – 7/26/23
ARTIST: Lucas Werneck
I can’t believe I’m including a Hellfire Gala cover, but this one is gorgeous and Dazzler looks like this no matter if it’s a Hellfire Gala or not, so it works really well.
Knight Terrors #2b
PUBLISHED: DC – 7/25/23
ARTIST: Francesco Mattina
Who doesn’t love a little Sandman (Mystery Theater version)? Some people really like “item” covers where there’s no character and this one is the best one I’ve seen a LONG time. Mattina really took his time with this series. This one has great depth, atmosphere and textures, not to mention decent contrast which is often Mattina’s downfall.
Shudder Magazine #12
PUBLISHED: Warrant – 7/26/23
ARTIST: Vic Prezio
This is astonishing art that harkens back to all of the Warren mags of the 70’s Incredible detail and rendering. I really should have been picking these up all along. I don’t know what I was thinking. This may actually be the best cover of the week, to be honest.
*****
STIFF COMPETITION
*****
Alice Never After #1b
PUBLISHED: BOOM! – 7/26/23
ARTIST: Jenny Frison
Better than her Harley, this week. The colors are a little off-putting, but I love the art and I’m a sucker for Alice stuff.
Purr Evil #1d
PUBLISHED: Image – 7/26/23
ARTIST: Sozomaika
Here’s a sneaky one I didn’t see coming. With last week’s hottest book in her Harley incentive, I expect the Sozomaika train to keep steaming down the tracks. This one is subtly sexy. Not as great as that Harley, but still solid. Incredible lines.
Grimm Fairy Tales #74c
PUBLISHED: Zenescope – 7/26/23
ARTIST: Sonia Matas
Wow! Zenescope amazes me. Every week, they have at least one banger cover and the rest are just smut. This one is absolutely stunning.
Poison Ivy: Uncovered #1a
PUBLISHED: DC – 7/25/23
ARTIST: Guillem March
This is a beautiful cover with great lines and color. It doesn’t blow my doors off, but it is solid (and at least it’s NOT a Knight Terrors tie-in).
*****
WORTH A 2nd LOOK
*****
Knight Terrors: Angel Breaker #1c – Lesley Leirix Li – DC – 7/25/23
This is simply a really solid cover with lots of depth and detail. One of Li’s best in a while.
Knight Terrors #2d – Ivan Reis – DC – 7/25/23
As I’ve mentioned before, if you were a blacklight poster collector in the 70’s, or you’ve been just buying this little run, you’ll likely need one of these. A cool concept and done with a good cover (this art is the cover “A” art treated with neon).
Knight Terrors: Angel Breaker #1b – Ivan Tao – DC – 7/25/23
I am pretty sick of the floatation-devices-as-breasts looks and this one has Tao’s heavy stylization, but if either of those things are your thing, this is your book. I am also over the money grab cross-over books and even more over the black/white/red look. Ugh x4 on this one for me.
Knight Terrors: Detective Comics #1c – Kyle Hotz – DC – 7/25/23
I’m not sure if I absolutely love or absolutely hate this cover, but it’s hard to deny the high levels of attention and detail put into this very intricate cover. Batman Who Laughs as Venom?
Knight Terrors: Harley Quinn #b – Jenny Frison – DC – 7/25/23
An interesting concept with the combo of realism in the middle and digitized pixelization on the tops and bottom. At the end of the day, it a good-not-great Frison with a gimmick. Still worth placing down here, though.
Poison Ivy: Uncovered #1d – Lesley Leirix Li – DC – 7/25/23
Titanic Vibes, anyone? Cool concept with good execution, but that stock anime face HAS to go!!! Bleck! The colors are really well chosen. Either way, Li’s work has gotten a lot better, recently.
Dejah Thoris #5a – Junggeun Yoon – Dynamite – 7/26/23
Again with damned anime faces?!?!? Grrrr, argh!!! Otherwise, a very sexy cover.
Dejah Thoris #5e – Lesley Leirix Li – Dynamite – 7/26/23
Yay!!! No anime face. Li has a lot of work on the shelves, this week. This may actually be his best of them. Incredibly sexy. A little “stock” and I am REALLY over the blury background tool being used by all of these digital artists, but still excellent.
Disney Villains: Scar #4b – Trish Forstner – Dynamite – 7/26/23
Love this layout (Forstner is a master at it) and she nails the attitude. So many Disney covers are drawn off-model that it’s so refreshing to see a cover that could (and should) grace the white Disney VHS clamshell cases of old. This is EXACTLY what a Scar cover should look like.
Danny Ketch Ghost Rider #3b – Sergio Davila – Marvel – 7/26/23
It has been done to death concept-wise, but this is still a really compelling cover entry.
Daredevil and Echo #3a – Phil Noto – Marvel – 7/26/23
Another excellent Noto with some nice bright colors. It’s hard to effectively get three characters on a cover in a way that looks crisp. Noto manages it, here.
She Hulk #15a – Jen Bartel – Marvel – 7/26/23
Tough to not love a Bartel. This one is no exception. Green on green. Bold and tough to pull off.
Spider-Man India #1h (2nd Print) – Abhishek Malsuni – Marvel – 7/26/23
This one has a great style. Almost Mobius meets Vess meets Manara.
Star Wars: Darth Vader – Black, White & Red #4a- Taurin Clarke – Marvel – 7/26/23
This is an incredible confluence of styles and tropes, but they all work REALLY well together. There’s some negative space, some Francavilla-esque lines, a little Mondo feel and voila, a really sharp cover with some cool layers.
Alice Never After #1 – Dan Panosian – BOOM! – 7/26/23
Love the detail on this. I’m a sucker for Alice in Wonderland stuff, so I’m the mark for this, but this cover is still excellent.
Children of the Comet #1b – Damian Connelly – Sumerian – 7/26/23
Acid trip variant. Well named. Strange and cool!
Children of the Comet #1c – Maan House – Sumerian – 7/26/23
This one is really pretty and compelling. I am interested in this title as a result of this cover and the one above it.
Trakovi: The Slav with No Remorse #1a – Dave Thomas – Scout – 7/26/23
The art on this is outstanding even if the subject matter is a little blah.
*****
Yet again, Lots of covers for the week. There should be a little something for everyone for this week. I again intentionally left off a lot of “meh”, so as usual, I’m positive I missed something you liked. Toss in a comment and let me know what it is that I missed. Until next time, stay cool, be good to each other, thanks for reading and happy hunting.
*****
NOTE: All products, pictures, names, descriptions and logos are property of their respective copyright and trademark holders. No items are listed for sale. All information is for educational purposes, only.
*****
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