Best Comic Book Covers Ever (This Month): February 2014

Cover by Jenny Frison
Published by Dynamite
Available: Comics shops (print) / Dark Horse Digital (Apple + Android + Web)

A stunning use of Red Sonja's famous flame-red hair is the centerpiece of the gorgeous color work for this cover, which also makes tremendous use of the weightlessness of water to create a striking composition. But weirdly this wasn't the only cover this month to feature a famous redhead imperilled by crocodiles, so we get a rare chance to play "Who Wore It Best"; Red Sonja or...

Cover by Phil Noto
Published by Marvel
Available: Comics shops (print) / Marvel (Apple + Android + Web)

There must be something in the water. Widow's scaly friends look a little more engaged than Sonja's, and yet when it comes to conveying a sense of menace I think I'd just give the edge to Frison's Red Sonja cover. They're both great images, though -- and red and green make for such striking contrast that I can understand why both women ended up fighting lizards, even if it's strange that it should happen the same month.

Published by Dynamite
Cover by Jae Lee
Available: Comics shops (print) / Dark Horse Digital (Apple + Android + Web)

Turok always fights lizards, but he's not going to be out-done by a few crocodiles in his big relaunch month. I love the storytelling in this variant cover. Calling yourself "Dinosaur Hunter" doesn't mean that hunting dinosaurs is suddenly easy.

Cover by Andrew Robinson
Published by Marvel
Available: Comics shops (print) / Marvel (Apple + Android + Web)

A pitch-perfect combination of Cold War pulp paperback design with Eisnerian comic art flourishes.

Cover by Kevin Wada
Published by Marvel
Available: Comics shops (print) / Marvel (Apple + Android +Web)

It's been a great pleasure to watch Kevin Wada transition from an illustrator whose fan-work I followed avidly on Tumblr to a guy who actually gets paid to bring that same stunning aesthetic to his heroes on comic covers. His high fashion approach makes She-Hulk as much supermodel as superhero.

Cover by Andrew Robinson
Published by Vertigo
Available:  Comics shops (print) / DC Entertainment (Apple + Android + Web)

The cropped composition creates a very different sense of the space and time than a centered figure would achieve. I think it also creates a more interesting shape and power for the figure, which draws the eye down to the bloodied mask.

Cover by Matteo Scalera
Published by Image
Available: Comics shops (print) / Image (DRM-free download)

Another great figure-based cover, and again, it comes down to the shape of the figure, the choices of where to add detail, what to abstract, what to say. I haven't read Ghosted, and I don't know who this woman is, but now I want to know, because damn, she looks cool.

Cover by Matteo Scalera
Published by Image
Available: Comics shops (print) / Image (DRM-free download)

I didn't realize I'd picked two Scalera covers this month until I went through to add the credits. This one is strikingly different to the Ghosted cover, and while I did find a version without the logo (and generally prefer to showcase the "naked" versions of a cover), the logo treatment on Dead Body Road is what makes it distinctive. There's a wonderful menace to that monolithic logo hanging in the air behind the butcher and the hook. (And the rubber duckie.)

Cover by Genndy Tartakovsky
Published by IDW
Available: Comics shops (print) / IDW (Apple + Android + Digital)

IDW's continuation of Cartoon Network star Samurai Jack's adventures couldn't ask for a better endorsement than the variant covers provided by the series' creator, Genndy Tartakovsky. Each one of his covers has been better than the last, and this one is a perfect presentation of the character.

Cover by Jerome Opeña
Published by Marvel
Available: Comics shops (print) / Marvel (Apple + Android + Web)

This Punisher variant cover feels like Opeña's tribute to Tim Bradstreet, who provided many of the covers for Garth Ennis's Punisher MAX run. Bradstreet always placed his shady-faced Frank against sombre backgrounds - graves, skulls, wanted posters -- but Opeña subverts expectations by placing Frank in sunnier climes -- with the stain of the city behind him and the sun still never falling on his face.