Cover Fire 8/2/2023
The Most Fire Cover From This Wednesday’s Releases
8/2/2023
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 Cover Fire, fine folks. I hope you had a great week. Some great incentives this week, especially on Sacrificers (Frison and Lotay) and the Parrillo Moon Knight, but we don’t cover such things in this article. I also like the Hetrick Scarlet Witch. Tune into Cover Lovers for that info (see above).
I was REALLY picky this week.
Most of the regular stuff is meh for me in this week’s batch. There are a few bangers, though.
I am really upset with Marvel for the George Perez money-grab they’re doing with these mediocre pieces he clearly did as commissions. They do NOT belong as covers and besmirch his legacy.
I refuse to feature what is sure to be an onslaught of Gleason color variations on his Hulk cover (which I originally liked a lot). It’s the web-head thing all over again. Argh!
That’s really all I have for notes. Let’s just dive in…
And this week’s winner is…
Conan the Barbarian #1c
PUBLISHED: Titan – 8/2/23
ARTIST: Stanley “Artgerm” Lau
I have to be honest, I really struggled with which cover should be the winner, this week. For old-schoolers like myself, getting a new Conan series is much better than any of the SDCC trash or silly spec that many people seem to chase and then forget about a week later. I hope Titan can do good things with this series. I honestly wish Artgerm had drawn Conan on this cover, but it is a beautiful ‘Germ, nonetheless. I’m not sure who this character is supped to be (Belit, probably?), but she looks tough!
*****
RUNNERS UP
*****
Conan the Barbarian #1d
PUBLISHED: Titan – 8/2/23
ARTIST: Patrick Zircher
Because this is a redraw of the original Conan #1, I can’t in good conscience place it at the top slot, but it is excellent. There is a legion of foreign comic collectors who buy redraws all day long. I assume they will have no problems with this one, either.
Knight Terrors: Joker #2c
PUBLISHED: DC – 8/1/23
ARTIST: Ryan Brown
Fantastic textures and rendering on this cover. It is a little silly, but I like that. I had been waiting for this one to finally drop so that I could feature it.
*****
STIFF COMPETITION
*****
Knight Terrors: Joker #2b
PUBLISHED: DC – 8/1/23
ARTIST: Christian Ward
I actually like this cover a lot. It is reminiscent of the old animated series and the colors are awesome. There is just enough “creepy” to make it haunting and dark and enough color and humor to balance that out.
Fire and Ice #1c
PUBLISHED: Dynamite – 8/2/23
ARTIST: Frank Frazetta
This is just the movie poster from 1983, but it is still Frazetta and it still crushes almost every other cover this week.
Doctor Strange #6a
PUBLISHED: Marvel – 8/2/23
ARTIST: ALex Ross
This cover looks like something straight off of a 1970’s Warren Magazine cover and I LOVE it for that. Ross is a master. Simple as that.
*****
WORTH A 2nd LOOK
*****
Peacemaker Tries Hard #4c – Kris Anka – DC – 8/1/23
I love these movie-poster-vibe covers. This isn’t as good as the first one, but still very solid and in the perfect artistic style. I actually like the fold lines and the damaged corners.
Sandman Universe Special: Thessaly #1b – Skylar Patridge – DC – 8/1/23
The lines and shading of Frison meet the colors of Bartel, but it still works. A very pretty cover.
Fire and Ice #1a – Bill Sienkiewicz – Dynamite – 8/2/23
Sienk harnesses his inner Frazetta for this one and it kills! Frazetta did art design for the original animated Fire and Ice for those who might be unaware.
Gargoyles #8c – Lucio Parrillo – Dynamite – 8/2/23
As I’ve said in the past, Parrillo has been churning out some of his best work on these Gargoyles variants. This one is no exception. Maybe it’s all of the purple that I love so much.
Star Wars: Dark Droids #1c – John Tyler Christopher – Marvel – 8/2/23
Okay, so the action figure JTC thing is WAYYYYYYYYYYY tired, but, but BUT… this one is very original. Using the old Droids action figure cardback was a very nice touch.
Conan The Barbarian #1a – Dan Panosian – Titan – 8/2/23
I am very interested to see what Titan can do with this series. I really hope they don’t mess it up. This Panosian cover is classic Conan even though this pose and layout has been done to death.
Conan The Barbarian #1b – Roberto De La Torre – Titan – 8/2/23
Albeit a little busy, but the pencils are outstanding and have that old-school feel to them.
Dead by Daylight #2c – Dilon Snook – Titan – 8/2/23
A cool concept which is well executed and rendered nicely.
Fearless Dawn: Cold #1a – Steve Mannion – Asylum – 8/2/23
Good luck finding this one, but I really love the art style, here. A very wispy watercolor that works great to convey cold.
Robotech: Rick Hunter #1b – Derrick Chew – Titan – 8/2/23
Now THIS is the PERFECT book to put Derrick Chew’s anime style on. Bravo!
*****
Yet again, not the strongest week in the world. Thankfully, Conan gets released which really helped. There should be a little something for everyone, though. 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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