The Ink Spill No.1

This is the first installment of The Ink Spill, something I'll hopefully be doing weekly or at least biweekly. I've tried to limit myself to including books being released this week and rounding up the covers that strike me the most. I'm only including books based on cover aesthetic and I'm not making overall judgments on any title. Enjoy!

No.1 - Batman: Streets of Gotham TBP Vol. 02 Leviathan

art: Dustin Nguyen

 While I haven't kept up with this book, I absolutely love Dustin Nguyen's unique, almost blocky style of handling Batman and this cover shows how strong he can be in both traditional inked art and more painterly images. Damien Wayne is by far my least favorite Robin but not surprisingly Nguyen makes me like him a little bit more with his mature rendering.

Publisher: DC - Available: November 9, 2011

Hear Scott's artistic opinion on a few more covers, after the jump! 




No.2 - The Goon Volume 5: Wicked Inclinations (TPB)

art:Eric Powell (obviously)

  I might be biased towards The Goon due to my huge love of the character, but this cover by Eric Powell is one of my favorites (first place going to Nothin' But Misery). This is one of the warmest color schemes I've seen Powell use and I think it gives The Goon a bit of a respite from his often gloomy environments. I love the movie poster styling to this cover and I think it's a huge strength. I am a bit disappointed by Powell's choice to repeat such a familiar background element as a super imposed zombie head but it doesn't detract much from how striking I find this cover

Publisher: Dark Horse - Available: November 9, 2011


No.3 - Green Lantern No.3 (Black and White Variant Cover)

art:Doug Mahnke

 Doug Mahnke is one of my favorite artists working for DC right now and everything I've seen of his current run on Green Lantern shows how crisp and clean his stuff can be. This cover is no different but the main reason I've included it is because it's available as a black and white variant. I love black and white comic art and I think offering variant covers in this form is one of the best things publishers are doing right now. Mahnke is a far better draftsman than I and the massive amount of tight rendering he packs into this cover without it becoming too busy is awe inspiring.

Publisher: DC - Available: November 9, 2011


No. 4 - Venom Promo Poster

art: John Tyler Christopher 

Closing out the list is an entry that isn't technically a cover but is still very much comic art and is possibly my favorite entry on the list. This splicing of the classic Venom look and his most recent, militaristic iteration is fantastic. While I'm not crazy about Venom's new costume, the strong contrast offered by this image between past and present is hard not to love, plus Venom's color scheme allows for the seamless blending into the background that is utilized perfectly.

Publisher: Marvel - Available: November 9, 2011


That'll do it for the first installment of The Ink Spill here on NWC. Check the site in the coming week for more podcast episodes and another weekly entry right here on this page of my favorite comic art picks.
Thanks to anyone supporting the podcast and digging the stuff we're spewing.

Welcome to your doom
-Scott-