The Cool Kids Table: Art Attack: September 2012's Coolest Covers

-I've been hot and cold (mostly cold) on Superman's casual crusader look in Action Comics (not a big fan of the modern armor), but Ben Oliver really sells it. I think it works best with a painter or an artist who shoots for realism since it's basically the apparel you'd assume a super hero would wear in real life as far as being functional (or at least non-constricting) and cool. When Oliver draws it, I think "I'd wear that if I were a pro wrestler," which is high praise coming from me.

-Who's the Scarecrow in the Angel & Faith cover?

-How do you beat that Daredevil cover by Paolo Rivera? The man is a machine. How long did that take?! I'm constantly amazed by how driven Paolo is. When he was doing Mythos, his painting was the best in the business as far as I'm concerned, but he reinvented himself as a pencil artist and has been tweaking everything he does ever since. He could get away with just stark, gorgeous portraits of Daredevil each month, but he always goes that extra mile, whether it's a unique presentation such as the "snow devil," the braille in Doom's face plate, the "barbed wire radar" and now this. I was on a call this week where Chris Samnee praised Paolo's interpretation of Daredevil's powers as "the way it always should have been done and the way everybody will do it from now on." Just a genius (and newly engaged--sorry ladies!).

-I want a New 52 Flash figure designed by Francis Manapul. I also want to see him draw the entire Justice League.

-That movie style Goon is bad ass because it jumps out as being not what I expect from a Goon cover, but also so totally still the character and his essence.

-With DC's cover theme this month, Clayton Crain did a nice job making I, Vampire stick out by having his figure mist through the background rather than tearing it apart; the little things.

-Part of me misses the old iconic Shazam! look, but I wasn't such a devotee that I'm not energized by Gary Frank drawing him as a bad ass. He actually reminds me a bit more of Prime now, which has to be some kind of irony.

-John Tyler Christopher's New Mutants #49 cover is currently my desktop background at work. It kind of terrifies me every time I turn on my computer.

-I'm high on sweet, sweet nostalgia with Todd McFarlane paying homage to his own stuff on Spawn and Rob Liefeld doing up zombie Youngblood.

-No two David Yardin covers ever look the same even a little bit. I am frequently fooled into thinking X-Factor has a rotating stable of extremely talented cover artists, but it's just one gent with a lot of range and imagination.

ACTION COMICS #0 by Ben Oliver