There is a veritable cornucopia of new comics hitting stands each week. While readers often know exactly what it is they’re most interested in (those in the know have got their pull list sitting in their comic shop’s ever-reliable hands), there is something to be said about going against that old truism and Judging a Book by its Cover.
Some truly astounding cover art hits each and every week, and these are the ones that caught Colin’s eye the week of April 30th, 2025.
Doom’s Division #2
Variant by Peach Momoko
It sometimes feels as if Peach Momoko is one of the most overworked variant cover artists producing today: she’s everywhere, creating what a canny comics enthusiast can only assume to be six hundred variant covers each week, and that’s on top of producing Ultimate X-Men and such every month.
Because she’s so overworked, it’s easy to set aside those covers when working on this column if only so that you readers don’t accuse me of being in the pocket of Big Peach; I try not to saturate the column if I can help it, whether that’s a fair practice or not. I’m only human, as is everyone else here at AIPT (yes, even David Brooke, who produces roughly 97.6% of all AIPT content).
But this Karma: come on. She’s so cool! The blocky, squared-off energy burst of her possession power is a fantastic nod to the original New Mutants comics, where it felt as if that energy was drawn with a chisel-tip marker.
Frankenstein: New World – The Sea of Forever #3
Cover by Peter Bergting
Far be it from me to deny the audiences their weekly suggested servings of hideous fish men. I’ll even garnish those servings with skeletal fish women. Bergting does a great job keeping the Hellboy Universe suitably Mignola-esque — blocky, grim and dark, packed with skeletal weirdos. As the Universe continues growing, spinning out more and more loosely connected miniseries (this is the fourth Frankenstein book), the styles are getting more varied and beautiful. Bergting brings things back to home base without giving up any of their personal style or flair.
Godzilla vs. Spider-Man #1
Variant by Patrick Gleason
Peach Momoko isn’t the only person being kept busy in the comics industry these days: Godzilla has been forced out on a warpath, targeting super teams, individuals, and entire cities (cities still reeling from other natural disasters). Hell, the monster is even destroying universes now.
Apparently dealing with a bit of arachnophobia, Godzilla bends their attention to Spider-Man in this Patrick Gleason cover. This is such a fantastic use of scale — tiny Peter, framed by the suggestion of Lady Liberty’s size, both dwarfed by Godzilla’s massive mug. Godzilla’s glowing eyes as it powers up its atomic breath, paired with Spidey’s jagged little spider-sense waves are great, loving details to cement the characters.
The Graveyard Club: Fresh Blood #1
Cover by Miguel Mercado
Oh, to be a kid poking around a spooky abandoned place. Not that AIPT endorses that sort of thing; legally, we’re forced to urge anyone entertaining supernatural breaking and entering to consider any other available option.
The Graveyard Club ad copy calls it a coming-of-age teen thriller, and this image captures a dark-and-stormy-night sort of Stand By Me vibe: four kids doing stuff they shouldn’t do and, one assumes, learning from it. Mercado does a wonderful job ascribing each kid unique vibes and instilling the house with enough menace to draw the reader in.
Grim #22
Main cover by Flaviano Armentaro, variant cover by Ivan Shavrin
The process of whittling down the vast selection for Judging by the Cover involves a lot of flipping back and forth, second-guessing, and gut feeling, but my main takeaway from writing this column is that there is no shortage of incredible work being released each week, and that incredible work is spread wide across the dozens of publishers and hundreds of titles. It’s a special occurrence — like a fated cosmic alignment of planets — when one book produces two covers that I feel the need to spotlight (okay, maybe not that rare — G.I. Joe pulled it off just last week). These two Grim covers offer two indelible, red-tinged images with completely different vibes.
NYX #10
Variant by Francesco Mortarino
Though the solicit image above only shows us one-half of a wraparound cover, Mortarino provides a beautifully balanced front image. I’m loving the Krakoa trunk in the middle, delivering a sort of stylized cultural shorthand in its foliage. NYX is building a new community, and this cover attempts to capture that community’s center.
Void Rivals #18
Variant by Conor Hughes
I missed the first half of this connecting cover, which appeared on issue #17, but I’m loving both halves both together and independently. Taken alone, it promises just a little bit of the Autobot Hot Rod. I’m a good ten issues behind on the series, but I immediately locked onto the fact that Solila is wearing the Handroid, and the fact that that little detail is enough to send me rushing to catch up says a load about the series. It’s rich, filled with so much of its own narrative power, whether Hot Rod and his transforming buddies are around or not.
Colin shares his favorite covers from this week’s new comics. Read More