dmstarz's favourite marvel comic cover no207
The amazing detailed, idiosyncratic artwork of Frank Quitely. That's all you need to know really, isn't it? But there are things going on here that really help this cover stand out from the crowd. Group shots are ten a penny, we've said it before. Morrison, though, was doing something new and brave with one of the oldest teams on the block. First he dispensed with costumes and replaced them with uniforms - the big yellow 'x's are what really stand out here. He bared down the team to its bare essentials (three telepaths, though - that seemed odd - at first). Quitely's take here is very definitely an original take. You can't quite see the characters, though they're so ubiquitous to the average Marvel fan that there is no real doubt as to who they are. He boldly chooses to represent their faces in shadow and has all of them approach the reader in a peculiar style. They all, especially the girls, look incredibly long. Very weird. I'm not overly convinced about the background (perhaps pre-empting future Phoenix troubles?). That said, this is a great piece of re-presenting a potentially tired old team. Superb.
I have ranked this cover no 207 as part of a long term project I am producing on my own blog 'marvel-ous' on blogspot.com re: my favourite marvel comic book covers. Please visit http://dmstarz.blogspot.com and check out the other covers that have made my top 250.