Art Attack: May 2013's Coolest Covers

-Colleen Doran is an artist whose work I've enjoyed whenever it's randomly popped up into a back issue of something I read, but I don't have that much exposure to her because, y'know, I mostly read super hero comics and she hasn't done many of those (at least not that I know of or in awhile). She was also really nice the one time I met her at a con. I'd like to see her art more. Would I like A Distant Soil? I honestly don't even know what it's about, but I feel like I might.

-Alpha: Big Time #4 has been the wallpaper on my computer at work for a little while now. Great concept, and also a great background that doesn't obscure your desktop icons.

-I'm rooting for Nic Klein. Guy's stuff on Winter Soldier is really visually bold and takes chances; it sets the mood and conveys the action perfectly. His Avengers Assemble cover here stretches him a bit out of the spy genre, but it's still dark stuff, being an Age of Ultron cover. I'd love to see his take on the classic Avengers, X-Men, etc.

-Alex Maleev makes the list twice this month. When he's on--and he's always on--his covers are just gorgeous. Both on Batman and Daredevil I dig the smoothness of color; it's a contrast to some of his more recent work on stuff like Moon Knight, which was still beautiful, but with a much rougher overall texture.

-The cover to B.P.R.D.: Vampire makes me miss Daytripper and wish it were an ongoing series.

-Is Mark Brooks the most clever cover artist working at the moment? Possibly. He knows how to have fun.

-Guardians of the Galaxy #3 was my desktop background for a bit, but as much as I loved having a raccoon staring at me while I worked (I'm, not being sarcastic), the aforementioned icons got lost. Also a great homage!

-Here's something about me: I love skeletons on fire in my comics, so it was a given I was going to like Jason Pearson's Suicide Squad cover.

-The other contender to Mark Brooks' reference a couple grafs back throne: Mike Del Mundo. Where does he get these ideas? Surely Daniel Ketchum has nothing to do with it...

-Jamie McKelvie wears a crown all his own as the king of using negative space better than a lot of artists use positive space (is "positive space" a thing?).

A DISTANT SOIL #30 by Colleen Doran

ALPHA: BIG TIME #4 by Humberto Ramos

AVENGERS #11 by Dustin Weaver

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE #15AU by Nic Klein

BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT ANNUAL #1 by Alex Maleev

B.P.R.D.: VAMPIRE #3 by Fabio Moon & Gabriel Ba

DAREDEVIL: END OF DAYS #8 by Alex Maleev

DIAL H #12 by Brian Bolland

FEARLESS DEFENDERS #4 by Mark Brooks

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #3 by Steve McNiven

MORBIUS: THE LIVING VAMPIRE #5 by David Lopez

SUICIDE SQUAD #20 by Jason Pearson

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #9 by Marcos Martin

UNCANNY X-MEN #6 by Frazer Irving

X #1 by Paolo Rivera

X-MEN #2 by Amanda Conner

X-MEN LEGACY #10 by Mike Del Mundo

YOUNG AVENGERS #5 by Jamie McKelvie