It is time for the Best Covers from the month of July. Over the last five weeks I’ve highlighted my Top 5 Comic Book Covers. Now it’s time to crown the overall winner in a variety of categories! If you want to revisit any of my past articles just follow the links provided: Covers of the Week 07/03/13 | Covers of the Week 07/10/13 | Covers of the Week 07/17/13 | Covers of the Week 07/24/13 | Covers of the Week 07/31/13. Now without further ado, let’s see who emerged supreme:
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Most Top 3 Covers Appearances
This award goes to the company that had the most cover appearances in the Top 3. And the winner is:
DC wins with 11 appearances, Marvel garners 4, and the Independents have 0.
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Best Overall Covers
This award goes to the company that produced the greatest amount of quality covers in a given month. How it works is this: only covers that have earned my Covers of the Week honor are considered. First place each week nets their respective company 5 points, second place 4, third place 3, fourth place 2, and fifth place only 1. The company that has the greatest number of points wins the award. And the winner is:
DC wins with 49 points, Marvel garners 25, and the Independents have 1.
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Covers of the Month
Covers of the Month is split into four categories: Best Independent, Best Marvel, Best DC, and Best Overall. The winners are as follows:
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Independent Cover of the Month 
Ghostbusters #8 (07/24/13)
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Marvel Cover of the Month 
Fearless Defenders #6 (07/10/13)
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DC Cover of the Month 
The Flash #22 (07/24/13)
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July’s Overall Cover of the Month
The Flash #22 (07/24/13)
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That wraps up this month. Agree/Disagree with the selections? What were your personal favourites from the month of July? Comment below.
My DC podium is:
Bronze medal: The Flash # 22
Silver medal: Batman: The Dark Knight # 22
Gold medal: Batwoman # 22
My Marvel podium is:
Bronze medal: Young Avengers # 8
Silver medal: Venom # 38
Gold medal: Fearless Defenders # 7
Special mention for Deadpool # 13.
My overall cover of the month is Fearless Defenders # 7, BUT Venom # 38 lost by a hair’s breadth.
Also, last month I read the second trade of Hawkeye, and I noticed it was much, much worse than the first one. Now it seems that this series is losing your favor as well (at least for the covers), because I remember you used to praise Hawkeye’s covers, and now I don’t see any of them in this post.
I’ll try to explain you why in my opinion Hawkeye got worse from the 8th issue on. What made the first issues of this series so special was the fact that Fraction was able to build a highly entertaining yet very simple story each time.
Then he tried to write in a more complex and experimental way (think about the issue told from the point of view of Clint’s dog, for example), but he overreached himself, and all his experiments miserably failed.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”: this is what Fraction needs to hear from his editor. I’m not criticizing Fraction for the sake of it: I’m doing it because I want Hawkeye to reach the peeks of its earlier issues again, and this objective can’t be achieved if nobody tells Fraction that he’s going in the wrong direction.
As far as you know, am I the only one who didn’t appreciate the last issues of Hawkeye, or is the series still getting glowing reviews?
“Gold medal: Batwoman # 22”
That was my runner-up for this month, almost gave it to her.
“My overall cover of the month is Fearless Defenders # 7”
Let me guess…was it the fourth-wall breaking moment that took it over the top? 🙂
“Now it seems that this series is losing your favor as well (at least for the covers), because I remember you used to praise Hawkeye’s covers, and now I don’t see any of them in this post.”
Not necessarily. The second trade consisted of 6-11. Issue #6 I gave 2nd place. Issue #7 – 2nd Place, Issue #8 – 1st place, Issue #9 – 2nd, Issue #11 – 5th. 12 didn’t rank though (not drawn by Aja) and #13 hasn’t been released yet though I’m pretty confident that it will make my Top 5 if not higher for the week it is released.
“As far as you know, am I the only one who didn’t appreciate the last issues of Hawkeye, or is the series still getting glowing reviews?”
The reviews are still solid but they have been getting lower. The Pizza Dog issue has some detractors but it received a lot of near perfect scores as well.
Overall, I see your points but I still am personally enjoying this series and regard it as my #1 Marvel series with Daredevil close behind.
“Let me guess…was it the fourth-wall breaking moment that took it over the top?” I could list about 10 reasons why this cover deserves the gold medal, but that detail definitely was the icing on the cake.
“I see your points but I still am personally enjoying this series and regard it as my #1 Marvel series with Daredevil close behind.” Sometimes a reader falls in love with a series so deeply that he goes on enjoying it even when it gets worse. It happened to me a lot of times (with Grifter, for example).
It happens with blogs as well. If you love a blog, you go on reading it even when you notice that its owner got bored with blogging and updates it less and less frequently.
You also try to revive his passion by “liking” his posts and writing detailed comments, but usually your efforts are useless: the more you try to keep a blog alive, the less its owner will meet your wishes.
I had to face this disappointing situation so many times that I stopped following blogs in order not to go through it anymore. GothamRogue is the only one I didn’t leave behind – there’s no reason to do it, because you didn’t get bored with blogging at all. : )
Thank you for your reply! : )
Oh you made my day! Thank you for the kind words and the support. Hard to imagine that in 1 and 1/2 months it will be 1 Year already. It’s people like you that make me want to continue on with this Blog and make it all worthwhile. You simply rock! 🙂
Thank you! You rock too! : )
Fantastic choice for Cover of the Month! I had a feeling it might be Flash #22 that was a such a fantastic cover. Really pleased that it has won cover of the month.
I’m happy to hear it! 🙂