Art Attack: August 2013's Coolest Covers

-I dig that take on Brother Blood by Francis Portela. It maintains the classic coloring and basic design of the classic George Perez but streamlines it a bit; plus while I have a soft spot for the original black-accented mask, amping up the skeleton crown instead is ominous and puts the character in line for a book like Animal Man. Portela definitely captured a creepy sense of glee here.

-Can't get enough 8-Bit variant covers. It makes a special amount of sense on Avengers Arena. Darkhawk and Mettle were born to be old school video game characters. Can whoever did that Adobo game look into something with Darkhawk?

-Love Chris Samnee's Silver Surfer! That's the type of smooth, sleek figure Samnee excels at, plus he does the crackling power effect in a neat kind of way. But what I dig more than simply the Surfer is how he contrasts getting dropped into the urban setting against a different figure like Daredevil. I believe Javier Rodriguez did the colors here (apologies if I'm mistaken) and he really sells it with the pale blue background, the stark red DD and the simple silver of the Surfer.

-As inventive as Mike Del Mundo's X-Men Legacy covers have been, that Deadpool Kills Deadpool one makes me chuckle.

-Did Dan Brereton just draw my dream Halloween costume for this year on Dream Thief #4?

-Mark Brooks continues his duel with the aforementioned Mr. Del Mundo for cover artist of the year in my view. Extra points for presumably being able to use recycled material for a new Fearless Defenders piece (although knowing him he may have created all-new design sketches).

-That Indestructible Hulk cover by Mukesh Singh sure does look like a lot of fun, doesn't it? Keep an eye on this guy.

-Just when you think Skottie Young has peaked on his variant covers (not really), he brings a Thanos video game console--which I now want to be real!--into the mix for Infinity.

-KISS Kids by Bruce Timm? Ok!

-I can always use more Jerry Ordway in my life. T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents is, of course, a perfect property for him, with colorful costumes and timeless designs. I had many great exchanges with the kind and talented Mr. Ordway when I was covering Infinite Crisis for Wizard back in the day and he sent me his full runs on Infinity Inc. and All-Star Squadron, so I'm indebted to the gent.

-The cover to Ultimate Comics Ultimates #29 by Michael Komarck has been my desktop screensaver at work for awhile now. Neat way to depict Quicksilver's powers in action.

-Declan Shalvey's Venom covers are a higher degree of art.

100 BULLETS: BROTHER LONO #3 by Dave Johnson

ANIMAL MAN #23 by Francis Portela

ASTONISHING X-MEN #65 by Phil Noto

AVENGERS ARENA #14 8-Bit Variant

BATMAN BEYOND UNIVERSE #1 by Dustin Nguyen

BATMAN INCORPORATED SPECIAL #1 by Chris Burnham

BATWOMAN #23 by J.H. Williams III

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER SEASON 9 #24 by Georges Jeanty

BURN THE ORPHANAGE: BORN TO LOSE #1 by Sina Grace

DAREDEVIL #30 by Chris Samnee

DEADPOOL KILLS DEADPOOL #2 by Michael Del Mundo

DREAM THIEF #4 by Dan Brereton

EARTH 2 #15 by Juan Doe

FATALE #17 by Sean Phillips

FEARLESS DEFENDERS #8 by Mark Brooks

HAWKEYE #14 by David Aja

INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #12 by Mukesh Singh

INFINITY #1 by Skottie Young

INVINCIBLE UNIVERSE #5 by Todd Nauck

KISS KIDS #1 by Bruce Timm

MICE TEMPLAR IV: LEGEND #6 by Skottie Young

SCARLET SPIDER #20 by Ryan Stegman

SKULLKICKERS #24 by Edwin Huang & Jim Zub

SWAMP THING #23 by Guillem March

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS #1 by Jerry Ordway

ULTIMATE COMICS ULTIMATES #29 by Michael Komarck

UNCANNY X-FORCE #10 by Kris Anka

VENOM #39 by Declan Shalvey

WONDER WOMAN #23 by Cliff Chiang

X-MEN #4 by Terry Dodson