52 Best Comic Covers of 2014

Been a while since I did these. But I’ll be CRAZY biased next year thanks to my work on IDW’s JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS with Ross Campbell so I figured I should get in a final year. I did a comprehensive “Best of 2014” over on CSBG for this week’s SHE HAS NO HEAD! and this is simply an extension of that piece.

As always, you can see my biases in my choices. Title integration is important to me (which is why I’m only showing cover art with the titles on it), so are interesting compositions and great use of positive/negative space. I also tend to love bold colors (and a lot of white is a personal favorite) as well as simple, graphic, iconic images. Creativity is obviously key, but a lot of what makes a cover work for someone is just gut – how it makes you feel – and that it DOES make you feel. All these covers make me feel to some degree or another. This list is also only single issue comics – usually US since that’s what I have access to (no graphic novels or trade covers were considered for the list). As always I’m never quite sure if I got the order right, but it is what it is!

Here we go, counting down from 52 – one for each week of 2014.

52. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1 BY MARCOS MARTIN

051 amazing_spider_man_1_cover - marcos martin

51. ALL-NEW ULTIMATES #5 BY DAVID NAKAYAMA

050 All New Ultimates 5

50. ADVENTURE TIME #24 BY MIKE HOLMES

049 Adventure Time 24a - Mike Holmes

49. LUMBERJANES #8 BY NOELLE STEVENSON

048 Lumberjanes 8 - Noelle Stevenson

48. UNCANNY X-MEN #17 BY CHRIS BACHALO

047 Uncanny X-Men 17

47. SHE-HULK #3 (Variant) BY KRIS ANKA

3733462-03-variant

46. DETECTIVE COMICS #32 BY FRANCIS MANAPUL

046 detective32-manapul1

45. BATGIRL #36 (Variant) BY CLIFF CHIANG

045 Batgirl 36 Chiang

44. WINTERWORLD #4 BY BUTCH GUICE

044 WinterWorld 4 Butch Guice

43. ADVENTURE TIME #33 (Variant C) BY NIKKI MANNION

043 Adventure Time 33c Nikki Mannino

42. LIFE WITH ARCHIE #37 BY TOMMY LEE EDWARDS

042 life-with-archie-37-tommy-lee-edwards1

41. STORM #4 BY STEPHANIE HANS

041 Storm 4 - Hans

40. MS. MARVEL #3 (Variant) BY ANNIE WU

040 Ms. Marvel 3 Variant Annie Wu

39. FATALE #23 BY SEAN PHILLIPS

039 fatale23-phillips1

38. UNCANNY X-MEN #27 BY CHRIS BACHALO

038 Uncanny X-Men 27

37. VELVET #5 BY STEVE EPTING

037 Velvet 5 - Steve Epting

36. SHE-HULK #1 BY KEVIN WADA

036 shehulk1kevinwada

35. TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: TURTLES IN TIME #1 (Variant) BY ROSS CAMPBELL

Turtles-In-Time-01_Cover-RE-Hastings

34. SHE-HULK #5 BY KEVIN WADA

034 She-hulk 5 - Kevin Wada

33. DAREDEVIL #4 BY CHRIS SAMNEE

033 Daredevil 4 = Chris Samnee

32. MAGNETO #1 BY PAOLO RIVERA

032 3493011-magneto_1_cover

31. INHUMAN #7 BY RYAN STEGMAN

031 Inhuman 7 Ryan Stegman

30. HARBINGER #25 BY LUCY KNISLEY

030 harbinger-25-knisley1

29. EAST OF WEST #11 BY NICK DRAGOTTA

029 East of West 11 - Nick Dragotta

28. WYTCHES #1 (Variant) BY BECKY CLOONAN

028 Wytches 1 Cloonan Cover

27. DEADLY CLASS #3 BY WES CRAIG

3717032-deadly+class

26. ELEKTRA #6 BY MIKE DEL MUNDO

026 Elektra 5 Cover

25. BATGIRL #36 BY CAMERON STEWART

025 Batgirl 36 Stewart

24. BATMAN #31 BY GREG CAPULLO

024 Batman Zero Year Cover

23. THE WICKED + THE DIVINE #1 BY JAMIE MCKELVIE

023 Wicked + Divine 1 McKelvie

22. CATWOMAN #37 BY DARWYN COOKE

022 Catwoman 37 front only

Full size, horizontal cover:

022 catwoman37cookevariant FULL

21. BATMAN/SUPERMAN #14 BY JAE LEE

021 Batman Superman 14

20. GOTHAM ACADEMY #1 BY KARL KERSCHL

020 Gotham Academy Cover

19. LAZARUS #11 BY OWEN FREEMAN

019 Lazarus 11

18. CAPTAIN MARVEL #4 BY DAVID LOPEZ

017 Captain Marvel 4 - Lopez

17. THE SHAOLIN COWBOY #4 BY GEOF DARROW

016 Shaolin Warrior - Geoff Darrow

16. HAWKEYE #17 BY DAVID AJA

018 Hawkeye 17

15. SOLAR: MAN OF THE ATOM #5 BY JUAN DOE

015 Solar Man of the Atom 5 - Juan Doe variant

14. ELEKTRA #1 BY MIKE DEL MUNDO

014 Elektra 1

13. BATGIRL #35 BY CAMERON STEWART

013 Batgirl 35 Stewart

12. BATGIRL #35 (Variant) BY BABS TARR

012 Batgirl 35 Babs Tarr

11. SHE-HULK #7 BY KEVIN WADA

011 She-Hulk 7 Cover

10. THE WICKED + THE DIVINE #1 (Variant) BY BRYAN LEE O’MALLEY

010 Wicked + Divine 3 Bryan Lee O'Malley

09. ELEKTRA #9 BY MIKE DEL MUNDO

009 elektra-9-michael-del-mundojpg-7f751a_960w

08. BITCH PLANET #1 BY VALENTINE DE LANDRO

4288085-01-ghost

07. DEADLY CLASS #1 BY WES CRAIG

007 deadly-class-01

06. B.P.R.D. HELL ON EARTH #124 BY LAURENCE CAMPBELL

006 BPRD Hell On Earth 124 - laurence campbell

05. ELEKTRA #5 (Variant) BY CHRIS SAMNEE

005 Elektra 2 Variant - Samnee

04. THE WICKED + THE DIVINE #5 (Variant) BY BECKY CLOONAN

4170578-wicked+02

03. BLACK WIDOW #6 BY PHIL NOTO

003 Black Widow 6

02. SILVER SURFER #1 (Variant) BY FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA

002 Silver Surfer 1 - Francesco Francavilla

01. ELEKTRA #3 by MIKE DEL MUNDO

001 Elektra 3 Cover

Mike Del Mundo looks like he pulled it out this year with four spots – and two of those in the top 10. Elektra the book actually got five spots…a crazy THREE in the top 10 with Chris Samnee’s variant making it into the top 10 along with two of Del Mundo’s.

Kevin Wada takes second place with three mentions – and his book – She-Hulk takes second place to Elektra with four mentions since Kris Anka’s She-Hulk variant also made the list.

Cameron Stewart, Chris Bachalo, Becky Cloonan, Wes Craig, and Chris Samnee all got two mentions each.

Only 8 covers were by women (and with 2 by Cloonan, that means only 7 different women) and we can do way better than that – I’d like to see that number double next year. With Marvel doing some “women variants” this year and new talents like Stacey Lee and Babs Tarr doing more major comics work I hope it won’t even be a question. Already Stacey Lee’s Silk #1 variant and Uncanny X-Men #33 Variant are on my shortlist.

Marvel ate up nearly half the spots with 22 places, easily winning the day and with 5 in the top 10. Image comes in second with an impressive 11 covers, 4 of them in the top 10. DC is close behind at 9. Almost all of those are covers from the last few months, which means they closed out 2014 really strong. They didn’t get any in the top 10, but they’re looking strong for next year what with so many of their fantastic Darwyn Cooke covers still to release and some very strong movie homage covers debuting in March 2015. Dark Horse only has two covers, but both in the top 20 and one in the top 10. Boom manages 3 spots, IDW snags two, while Dynamite, Valiant, and Archie each nab one.

A really strong year for covers overall. And with so many books with female leads, a lot of them had lovely ladies commanding the page – 35 of the 52 have women as leads or “co-leads” (i.e. making up about 50% of the cover) and . Yay!

 

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