Judging (Marvel’s September 2024) Books By Their Covers

“Judging Books By Their Covers” is a feature where I pick out my favorite comic book covers from the monthly solicitations by the various comic book companies.

So here we are, back again after a month and, not, you know, FIFTEEN YEARS like the gap between the previous two Judging Books By Their Covers.

The way this works is that I’m going to just count down my ten favorite covers of the solicitations (note that not every cover for Marvel’s September 2024 releases has been revealed yet, so I’m going just by what was actually featured in the solicitations, which you can click on here to follow along). I’m considering perhaps working in one or two cover images that I think didn’t quite work, but I guess I’ll stick with just “pros” for now, and no “cons.” A few honorable mentions this time around, but in general, I’m not a fan of honorable mentions if I can avoid them. Just some interesting honorable mentions this time around that I didn’t want to use actual spots on the list to talk about.

Honorable Mentions

It is interesting to see Patrick Gleason continue his “head” series of covers (his original “Webhead” Amazing Spider-Man cover back when Gleason was the regular artist on Amazing Spider-Man became a bit of a sensation, which I wrote about in a piece on ten modern comic books that are valuable solely based on their covers)

He is doing a “Metalhead” cover as one of the many variant covers for Wolverine #1. I am enjoying seeing Gleason continuing the “head” series of covers!

Captain America is forming a new Earth-based Avengers team that will operate out of the Avengers Mansion, and on this variant cover by the artist for the first issue, Cory Smith, we see that they are all wearing leather jackets, just like in the 1990s…

Love seeing those jackets! It’s a good cover period, but I mostly am just getting a kick out of the jackets!

Walter Simonson homages himself on this fun What If Donald Duck had the powers of Thor? one-shot variant cover, and star Disney comic book artist,

Claudio Sciarrone, did a fun homage of Ed Hannigan and Klaus Janson’s cover for Avengers #223 (another comic book that became a bit hot over the years because of how cool the cover was, and that was BEFORE Marvel Studios homaged that cover with a scene in Avengers: Infinity War where Ant-Man got a chance to ride on one of Hawkeye’s arrows).

Fun stuff. Okay, on to the top ten!

10. John Romita Jr. draws Spider-Man in the rain better than anyone​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

As I’ve noted a number of times, one of the trends that has disappointed me the most over the years has been the rise of the pin-up cover, the cover that has nothing to do with the story inside the book. Marvel, though, has been very good at balancing these approaches out. What I mean is that they do pin-up covers, but the covers tend to at least have SOMEthing to do with the story inside. Of course, there are also a number of covers that are just pin-ups, but for the most part, they do a good job having the covers tie in to the story.

So, while this IS a pin-up cover, I am sure that this John Romita Jr. cover will tie in with the story in that issue of Amazing Spider-Man, which marks the start of the final storyline of the Zeb Wells/John Romita Jr. run on Amazing Spider-Man. John Romita Jr. is one of the best artists ever in terms of drawing Spider-Man in the rain (he has a famous cover with that exact sort of thing).

9. Greg Capullo evokes the Silver Age with this Wolverine: Revenge cover

On the note of pin-up covers, obviously, there were also covers in the old days that were SORT of pin-up covers, but they obviously tied into the concept of the comic book itself, even though they were technically pin-up covers. For instance, a number of Jim Steranko’s outstanding Nick Fury covers worked as pin-ups, but they also worked as being tied into the comic book in question.

Similarly, then, this Greg Capullo cover for Wolverine: Revenge appears to be a pin-up, but it clearly ties into the series itself, Wolverine: Revenge, which is about Wolverine taking on some of his most famous villains (think along the lines of “Hush,” a chance for an outstanding superstar artist to draw all the coolest villains in the character’s history). Plus, of course, it is a really cool cover, something that you could imagine having been a classic cover had it been released in the 1980s. It’s still a great cover now, as well!

8. David Mack hits familiar notes, but he hits them really well

This David Mack cover for Werewolf by Night: Red Band hits a lot of the familiar notes of David Mack’s normal covers, but the fact of the matter is that David Mack’s normal covers are freaking AMAZING, so I don’t think that that means much in terms of whether this is a great cover or not. The use of the silhouetted Werewolf to serve as a sort of picture box for the romantic scene to show through? That’s VERY clever by Mack, and it results in a strong cover that also ties into the story of the issue, which is always nice.

7. Juan Ferreyra continues to go full out on this Venom War: Zombiotes cover

Last month, Juan Ferreyra was number one on my countdown with his bizarrely dark cover for the first issue of Venom War: Zombiotes, where he drew such a wonderfully dark depiction of a zombie with a symbiote controlling it (which is really a cool idea, by the way), and he’s seventh this time around with the cover for the next issue.

It’s a BIT on the busy side of things (a problem I had with a few otherwise nice covers this month was that they were probably just a bit too busy, like the main cover for Avengers), but it more than makes up with it with some of those twisted concepts expressed on the cover, like She-Hulk just pulling a dude’s jaw off like that! That is a very clever idea. The Venom War is inspiring a number of interesting covers this month, although only one other cover made the list.

6. Ben Harvey evokes interesting emotions on his Phoenix variant cover

This Phoenix variant cover by Ben Harvey could be viewed as a pin-up cover, but I dunno, I think it ties in really well with what Stephanie Phillips is trying to pull off with this series, which sends Jean Grey into the cosmos, as she is so powerful as Phoenix that there really isn’t as much of a place for her on Earth as there out there in the stars (that is almost exactly the reasoning that Carol Danvers used when she became Binary, and left Earth).

So this cover by Harvey captures that sense of just IMMENSE power in outer space, very much in the style of Frank Quitely’s iconic All-Star Superman #1 cover, with Superman chilling on a cloud. Here, Jean Grey is just chilling on an asteroid, with a flaming phoenix gently landing on her arm. Harvey says so much with this sedate scene.

5. Spider-Boy’s attempt to go to school feels like Americana

Paco Medina has been doing some of the best work of his career on Spider-Boy with writer Dan Slott, and that extends to his covers, as well. I think that being able to be the first main artist for a character gives artists sort of more of an attachment to the character in question, which, in turn, brings out their best abilities on the assignment.

In any event, on this cover, Spider-Boy has to go back to school in his secret identity, and so we see Spider-Boy going back to school by hitching a ride on a school bus in adorable fashion. This really feels like something that you’d see in some piece of Americana like Norman Rockwell, or something like that. Really well done.

4. Mark Brooks goes to the iconic for his Spider-Gwen cover

Mark Brooks is one of the best cover artists working in the comic book industry today, and he has been (and will be) a regular fixture on these lists, as he just has this wonderful sense of cover design. What really stands out is how much he knows how important iconic imagery are to covers, and here, he knows that the concept of being overwhelmed by supervillains is something that applies to pretty much every superhero, but when you’re a new superhero who used to live in another universe like Ghost-Spider (the official superhero name for Spider-Gwen. The series is called Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider), the effect is even more striking.

Now when you factor in his use of negative space, and the way that he has the villains coming from one corner, as Gwen falls into the bottom right of the corner? Brooks really knows how to make cover design work for him. I can’t wait to see what he has up his sleeves for the next issue!

The first cover of a new series is always very important. You want to stand out, but you also want to give the readers a sense of what they’re getting in the comic book, and that’s precisely what the great Martin Cóccolo achieves in both regards on his cover for the first issue of the new Wolverine series by writer Saladin Ahmed and Cóccolo.

Wolverine has retreated to the wilderness, and sort of embraced his animal side, and he is dragged out of it by Nightcrawler, who needs his help, and Cóccolo uses the warm breath coming from Wolverine in the cold to show where he is (the cold wilderness), but also has him standing on a pile of bones to show that, well, you know, this IS still Wolverine here, he is a total badass!

2. CAFU also turns to the iconic for his Venom cover

CAFU (Carlos Alberto Fernandez Urbano) is a very good comic book artist, but I’m particularly impressed with his work on the cover of Venom #37, which, like Capullo and Brooks, draws on some pretty classic comic book concepts, but he does so because those are concepts that work really, really well. The idea of using a reflecting service to show who is attacking the main character on the cover is akin to Todd McFarlane’s iconic cover for Incredible Hulk #340.

Again, though, we’re talking about a situation where the trope is used because it is SO GOOD. This is a sharp cover that really draws your attention in, and demands that you pay attention to it.

1. Deadpool’s death comes in a bold fashion

Taurin Clarke has slowly but surely also become, like Mark Brooks, one of the best cover artists that Marvel has on a month-to-month basis. He has been doing an excellent job on the current Deadpool series, and with this issue allegedly featuring the “Death” of Deadpool, he does a wonderful job giving an “important” issue like this one a cover that stands out.

The boldness of having a hand bursting through Deadpool’s chest holding the logo for the book? That’s a brilliant cover concept by Clarke, and he executed it flawlessly.

Okay, this column is a bit less reader-interactive, but hey, if you want to share your thoughts on Marvel’s September 2024 covers, feel free to make comments, or drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!