Best Covers of the Day – Wednesday, Feb. 23

Today is an important day, my friends. Even from the basement of Cosmic Comix News Corp., which is where the Best Covers desk resides, we can see it. As the Whiz Bang bangs along and the second installment of our other new feature, the Top Twenty, comes this weekend, there’s still something even bigger taking off today… Cosmic Madness! More on that subject later today, but I wanted to give you a little tease for how good a day it’s going to be.

So, yes, while major revolutions are taking place in the Middle East and corrupt decades-long dictatorships are being overturned, our concern here is but one thing: COMIC BOOKS. And more immediately, the covers of those comic books.

DEADPOOL TEAM-UP #884

It might come as a surprise to some of you, but sadly none of the teams that Deadpool formed over the run of Deadpool Team-Up made the cut for the Cosmic Madness tournament. Which is really too bad because I think the team-up of Deadpool and Franken-Castle could have made a deep, deep run.

As for this cover, how can you not love it. As for me, I love it enough to break my own moratorium on Deadpool covers! The Watcher, doing what he does… in Deadpool’s bathroom. I especially like that the bubbles in the bath are pink, indicating that Wade has a preference for Mr. Bubble brand bath bubbles. Verrrrry slick, product placement, Marvel. Very slick indeed.

BTW, is the toy Deadpool is playing with supposed to be a SHIELD Helicarrier toy? Hard to tell, but I think so…

MORNING GLORIES #7

Ready?! O-KAY!

Be! Aggressive! B-E Aggressive! Be! Aggressive! B-E Aggressive!

Gimme a C! Gimme an O! Gimme an S! Gimme an M! Gimme an I! Gimme a C! What’s that spell???

We got spirit, yes we do! We got spirit, how about you?!

All right, so I really have nothing witty to say about this cover. It just really made me want to relive some of my favorite cheers. There’s also something kind of inherently funny about cheerleading. Like, we all know it’s one of the silliest things on planet Earth, yet it’s still totally charming. AM I RIGHT, FELLAS??

It also made me think of a band called The Go! Team, who’ve made a name for themselves recently with hilarious (and kind of awesome) cheer-inspired tunes.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #655

Gotta give Spidey credit for this cover. It instantly jumps out at you from the shelf and, if you don’t already know the answer, begs the question, "What’s got the little guy feeling so down?" (Answer: this.)

Something tells me this issue features some kind of superhero existential crisis. "Why me?" "Why does death follow me wherever I go?" "Why do the people I love constantly get thrown from tall bridges and the like?" Pff. What a baby.

BETTY AND VERONICA #252

Finally, getting back to our original theme and the importance of comics on the world stage… we come to Betty and Veronica.

And you thought Facebook was important for the instrumental role it played in the Egyptian revolution?? WRONG. What makes Facebook really important is the role it plays in the forever-complicated relationship between the love interests of Archie Andrews!

And yes, the Facebook "Gah! You have more friends than me!" comedy well probably ran dry a few years ago, but the Archie Joke-Generating Laugh Unit 3000 is always a little behind.

- Andy B.