By Jarrod Jones. Undercover is our opportunity to lovingly gaze upon gorgeous works from magnificent artists. Each week, we single out the most striking covers that grace comic book stands and gush all over them.
What are the covers that float your boat this week? We want to know! Tell us about them in the comments below, and the best response gets a DoomRocket sticker/button combo sent to their door. Get to it!
Black Canary #9, by Guillem March. (DC Comics)
Has Dinah found herself caught in an inferno? A disco inferno, perhaps. Black Canary arrived last year to topple the boy’s club that is DC Comics’ superhero line with a stiletto-heeled kick to the lower abdomen. The days of Dinah Lance hiding behind Oliver Queen’s quiver are long over, and through Annie Wu and Brendan Fletcher’s wicked revamp Dinah has a newfound vitality. Guillem March pays rich homage to Wu & Fletcher’s hard work with this ferocious cover to Black Canary #9. Even with March’s notoriously perplexing proportions on full display, this image is primed to knock your ass to the ground with its sonic might.
Astro City #33, by Alex Ross. (Vertigo)
For a fan of superheroes and classic film, I get a real kick out of seeing Alex Ross paint up Astro City‘s #1 reformed criminal to look like Robert Mitchum. Out of the Past was easily Mitchum at his fedora-tipping finest, and Ross takes the actor’s roguish (and undeniably iconic) good looks and casts them in impervious steel. And since Ross is no stranger to iconography — particularly for superheroes — his thrilling, noirish cover to Astro City #33 is one of this week’s best, a loving and mighty ode to the chivalrous, indestructible private eye (and a certain Hollywood titan).
Superman #50, by Terry Dodson. (DC Comics)
I dunno what it is. Terry Dodson’s Superman just does it for me. Terry Dodson’s anybody does it for me. And while I am decidedly not a fan of the Man of Steel’s oddly out-of-date Wildstorm look (that collar’s gotta go, folks), Dodson renders my favorite hero with the stoic determination that is so often recognized as a part of his character. And any time Dodson wants to draw the Batgirl of Burnside for his adoring public, he can go right ahead. Since this is but one half of a pretty great jam cover (Batman #50 is coming), I know that the enjoyment of Dodson’s interpretation of two other DC heroes (go ahead and take a guess) is but a mere week away.
Clean Room # 6, by Jenny Frison. (Vertigo)
Come on, now. You know Vertigo can’t release an issue of Clean Room without me going nuts over Jenny Frison’s covers. Can you blame me? Look at this thing: with Astrid leaning in to perform yet another act of horrible brutality, her phosphorescent hand forces a used butcher’s knife ever closer to the quivering chin of her intended victim. Coupled with the sheer terror in this poor woman’s eyes, Frison’s cover to Clean Room#6 is a horror show I just can’t pull my eyes away from.
Robin: Son of Batman # 10, by Patrick Gleason. (DC Comics)
Damian Wayne has enjoyed the artistic diligence of Andy Kubert, Chris Burnham, and Frank Quitely (amongst others) in the ten short years since he first exploded on the pages of Batman with issue #655, but don’t you dare forget about Patrick Gleason. Gleason’s work on Batman and Robin and Robin: Son of Batman is indisputably some of DC’s all-time best, and the years he’s spent rendering the irascible scamp to the delight of hundreds of fans has cemented the young Wayne (and Mr. Gleason) a place in comic book immortality. Make no mistake: that missing tooth will ever remain Gleason’s hallmark. The artist will always have a rightful claim amongst those who left the most indelible mark upon the Heir of al Ghul.
And that’s it! Don’t forget to share your favorite covers from this week’s releases in the comments section below!
