Art Attack: December 2010's coolest covers

Rather than make poor "It's the holiday season!" jokes, I'm instead going to tack my brief thoughts on December's nicest-looking comic book covers (in my humble opinion) up front here.

-From kinda out of nowhere, Dustin Nguyen has emerged as one of my very favorite cover artists. I love his interiors as well, but with his covers, he is quite possessed of the ability to not only create a striking image, but draw attention to it through sheer craftsmanship. I'm quite impressed by his output of several covers a month in addition to staying on task for at least one ongoing series at a time, and pretty psyched to have him on Justice League: Generation Lost cover duties where I can see his take on some non-Batman characters (like Captain Atom).

-The other guy who continues wow me across the board is Dave Johnson, who certainly doesn't need my praise, but you're getting it, fella. His covers aren't just gorgeous, they're smart, with a savvy design sense and use of color.

-I've said it before, but I'm really pleased to have Esad Ribic doing the Uncanny X-Force covers, if only to see new work by him monthly. His group shots were hot enough, but when you draw Wolverine and some sort of barbarian on the moon, that's just raising your game.

-Not only is Ivan Brunetti's Stange Tales II cover just awesome, I can't tell you how much it pleases me that pretty much everybody is commenting on his Nova of all characters.

-I think the cover of I Am An Avenger #4 somehow represents a whole new level for Daniel Acuna. I like his stuff already, and I'm not wise enough in the arts to pick apart what happened, but something there just pops to me. His Thing is (in a word) fantastic.

-That Ozma of Oz cover is the creepiest comic book art I believe I've seen all year.

AVENGERS ACADEMY #7 by Mike McKone

BATGIRL #16 by Dustin Nguyen

BATMAN 80-PAGE GIANT 2010 by Dustin Nguyen

BULLSEYE: PERFECT GAME #2 by Tim Bradstreet

DARK TOWER: GUNSLINGER - LITTLE SISTERS OF ELURIA #1 by Luke Ross

DEADPOOL #30 by Dave Johnson

DETECTIVE COMICS #872 by Jock

DMZ #60 by John Paul Leon

FREEDOM FIGHTERS #4 by Dave Johnson

HULK #28 by Ed McGuinness

I AM AN AVENGER #4 by Daniel Acuna

JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST #15 by Dustin Nguyen

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #52 by David Mack

MARVEL ADVENTURES SUPER HEROES #9 by Ronan Cliquet

OZMA OF OZ #1 by Skottie Young

S.H.I.E.L.D. #5 by Gerard Parel

SHADOWLAND: AFTER THE FALL #1 by David Finch

STRANGE TALES II #1 by Ivan Brunetti

UNCANNY X-FORCE #3 by Esad Ribic

X-FACTOR #212 by David Yardin