The Cool Kids Table: Art Attack: June 2013's Coolest Covers

-Working in comics, one of the downsides is I don't get surprised a lot, but I had no idea 100 Bullets was coming back and I was thrilled to be taken off guard by the news. Dave Johnson's cover takes you right back.

-That's a really different kind of cover for Astonishing X-Men by Phil Noto. Iceman is hardly the type of character who typically gets placed in a fantasy setting, but the unique juxtaposition here coupled with beautiful colors and the cool array of past and present love interests works really nicely (and makes you realize what a weird romantic history Bobby Drake has had). Noto is the consummate pro.

-Paolo Rivera really first got on the map beyond being the painter of Mythos when he drew that Punisher team-up issue of Amazing Spider-Man, so it's cool to see him back on both characters (after a fashion) with this month's Avenging Spider-Man cover, as he's got a great grasp for them. I'd love to see some regular Paolo Punisher.

-Jae Lee is a master of taking the familiar and making it striking, as he does on Batman/Superman #1. Two iconic figures, not a lot of busy scenery, just beautiful fine art.

-Great use of blacks on Georges Jeanty's cover for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I wonder how long he tinkered before settling on that approach?

-If that Daredevil cover by Chris Samnee doesn't fill you with a tingly excitement, this blog may not be for you (wait! Come back!).

-These Skullkickers homage covers have yet to miss for me.

-Nobody in comics is doing covers any more inventive than Mark Brooks on Fearless Defenders right now. I'd love to know where he gets his ideas from. Hey wait, I run a web site that could probably look into just that...

-Juan Doe on G.I. Joe! It just feels right.

-Was talking with Impact Wrestling's Samoa Joe about Paolo Rivera's Indestructible Hulk cover the other day when he visited the Marvel offices and it caught his eye. We both dug beyond the humor aspect that the style is very old school in a lot of ways, but has a slick modern polish. Paolo is really on fire.

-I didn't put that Mind the Gap cover on just to try and avoid Jim McCann whining in the comments section again, I really like the idea and Rodin Esquejo executes it perfectly (it could have come off really sloppy in the wrong hands).

-Enlarge that Superior Spider-Man cover by Giuseppe Camuncoli and then scroll up and down your screen for a bit. It's trippy.

-Thor: God of Thunder #9 is currently the desktop wallpaper of my work computer.

-With Ultimate Comics X-Men, B.P.R.D. and the aforementioned 100 Bullets, Dave Johnson makes my list three times this month. He's still the master.

-Declan Shalvey may be the most underrated artist in mainstream comics. He has a knack for dropping the fantastic (like an alien symbiote) into a world that looks more mundane and realistic than a lot of others depict with very compelling results.

100 BULLETS: BROTHER LONO #1 by Dave Johnson