If last month taught us anything, the color palette immortalized by Lisa Frank is due for a huge comeback. Maybe it’s seasonal osmosis, but artists continue to inject the pink, red and orange hues of a neon sunset into their cover art—just look at the eye candy on this month’s Flash, Revival and The Wicked + The Divine.
Another interesting observation is the growth of non-gradient, marginally shaded coloring. In a semi-controversial blog post from May, Songs Illustrated veteran James Harvey made a case for less-is-more color, championing the striking simplicity of bold fills contrasted against one another. Harvey isn’t alone; Wes Craig (Deadly Class), Javier Rodriguez (Spider-Woman), Noah Van Sciver (Disquiet) and David Aja (Scarlet Witch) show similar tendencies. This isn’t to say that one approach is superior, but it does enable greater visual diversity of style and mood in comics— especially in the super-hero mainstream that’s historically embraced homogenized “house styles.”
July also boasts some fantastic work from Lee Bermejo (the testosterone-addled Conan the Slayer), Tyler Crook (the moody Harrow County), Jenny Frison (Revival) and Greg Smallwood (Moon Knight).
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Black Hammer #1 Cover Art by Jeff Lemire
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Conan the Slayer #1 Cover Art by Charles Schultz
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Conan the Slayer #1 Cover Art by Lee Bermejo
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Deadly Class Book One Cover Art by Wes Craig
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Disquiet Cover Art by Noah Van Sciver
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The Flash #2 Cover Art by Karl Kerschl
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Harrow County #14 Cover Art by Tyler Crook
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House of Penance #4 Cover Art by Ian Bertram
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Maakies: Drinky Crow Drinks Again Cover Art by Tony Millionaire
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Moon Knight #4 Cover Art by Greg Smallwood