I'm a bit late with these this month cause i was busy with things. Newsarama was a bit lax with crediting all of the cover artists this month and half of the artists don't seem to be signing their work, so i will do my best with guessing which artist goes with which cover. If there are mistakes, let me know so i can fix them.

Clicking on the link will take you to the cover.

1. Age of Ultron #5 by Bryan Hitch

It's surprisingly and disappointingly pretty sketchy for a cover. The three guys in the front - Hawkeye, Wolverine, and Kazar(? Kamandi? random loincloth guy?) have moderately detailed faces, but everyone in the background has just got the very basic 2 eyes, 1 nose, 1 mouth and no discernible expressions.

I realize they're in the background and ofc will be less detailed than foreground characters, but except for Captain America's and Storm's heads, the remaining three unmasked characters all seem to have enough face for a little more than just marking off the relevant bits.

2. Avengers Assemble #14AU by Nic Klein

So, nothing really particularly good or bad with this cover. I just wanted to show it to you so i could say how it bugs me that they put Black Widow in front of a giant B and W so that you would know it was the Black Widow because it's so hard to distinguish one chick with long hair from another nowadays. These are my stupid reviews. I can nitpick if i want.

3. Wolverine & the X-Men #27AU by Mike Deodato

I am disappointed by this Deodato cover. You can usually count on Deodato to draw people well. But on this cover, something's wonky.

First off, you've got Cap and Wolverine with biceps of ginormousness. Nobody's biceps should be greater than or equal to the size of their heads. Unless they're a Hulk. Or an alien. Then it'd be ok.

Then you've got Scarlet Witch in a very bizarre pose. It's like it's trying to be a sexy pose but it's failing miserably and instead makes her look like she stumbled just as the photo was taken. Now, if anyone can draw a chick in a sexy pose, it's gotta be Mr. Cheesecake himself, Mike Deodato. So, what happened here?

And lastly, why is Captain America about 10-12 inches taller than everybody else (who's at normal human height)? Well, everyone except the Invisible Woman's hair. I get that Steve Rogers is a big guy and Wolverine is short. But since when does Hawkeye only come up to Cap's nose?

4. Thanos Rising #1 by Simone Bianchi and variant by Marko Djurdjevic

Ok, who doesn't love a Thanos cover?

5. X-Men #1 by Olivier Coipel

I like this cover alot. I like the post-apocalyptic setting. I like that each character is exuding attitude that is both similar and also fitting for each individual. My only problem is that Kitty Pryde seems to have been de-aged to her 14 year old self.

6. X-Men #1 variant by Terry Dodsen

The art is good in that proportions seem to be correct. Two major problems, though.

1. Storm is about a half inch away from total nipple exposure. And believe you me, if you're moving around, so will your clothing, and seeing as she's a superhero and all, i'm guessing there will be quite a bit of moving around.


2. I only know those two chicks with the long, dark hair are Kitty Pryde and Psylocke by deduction (and looking at someone else's cover to find out who is on the team). I mean, at first glance, i was wondering who those twin Asian chicks were. Then i cleverly deduced that the one with the straight hair must be Psylocke. And then i was stumped on the one with the wavy hair cause there was no way my brain was accepting that was supposed to be Kitty. If you're going to dress a bunch of people in nearly identical clothes, can you make a bigger effort to draw those characters to match their classic appearance so the rest of us have a chance of identifying them?

I totally approve of the bubblegum-chewing Jubilee, though.

7. New Avengers #5 variant by Joe Quinones

Is that supposed to be the Beast? Is it? Cause if it is, Quinones needs glasses. And if this is supposed to be what Beast looks like now, wtf? Look, i didn't say anything when you turned him into a tiger, but this is just awful. At least being a Tiger-Man was kinda kewl. This is caveman brow ridge, big chin unkewl.

8. Avengers Arena # 7 variant by John Tyler Christopher

I enjoy a technical spec drawing. I also enjoy a detailed drawing of the old school Iron Man costume.

9. Fearless Defenders #3 variant by Phil Jimenez

*sigh* I just love Jimenez. His people are fantastic. He's able to convey any number of emotions from his faces. Their proportions are always great. His detail in everything. *squee!!*

And nobody's metal boob covers are on their clavicles.

10. Fantastic Four #7 by Mark Bagley

Not reading Fantastic Four (can't call that FF anymore. jerks. *shakes fist*), but i like this cover. The image of the FF huddled on a rock, protected by the Invisible Woman's shield is nicely detailed, contrasting with the stark nothingness of the background.

11. Thor: God of Thunder #7 variant by Gabriele Dell'Otto

I feel like Thor is often drawn in this pose where he's got the right arm pulled way back and one leg forward. I don't have any actual proof of that, so i'm throwing it out there so you guys can either back me up or tell me i'm crazy.

But here's a perfect example of a superhero whose costume has shifted due to movement. I'm pretty sure Thor didn't want those round plates to cover his pecs quite like that. They are prolly originally a bit off to the side when he's standing straight. But now that he's fighting, it's all shifted over. Now imagine the costume malfunction that would occur in many of the female costumes (e.g. Storm's costume as mentioned above in X-Men #1).

12. A+X #7 by Stefano Casselli

That is a good Thing.

13. Uncanny X-Men #4 by Chris Bachalo

That is a beautiful drawing of Magick with the black, white, and red Sin City-esque coloring. She's got the long strands of hair whipping around while she blocks her crotch with one sword, her weight distributed slightly to the left as she prepares to bring the left sword slashing down. It's great.

14. Scarlet Spider #16 variant by Mike McKone and Morry Hollowell

So, either Iron Man's legs are fused together or somebody was lazy and only drew half of Iron Man and copied the mirror image for the other half. I also think it's hilarious just how much muscle definition is drawn on what is supposed to be a metal suit. McKone's not the only offender on this point, but it's even more obviously bad when the muscle definition suddenly stops at the point of fusion on Iron Man's legs.

And that's April. Alot less crunky than is my usual MO. How concerning.

My guess is that the blonde guy on the Ultron cover is some kind of alternative future Hawkeye or something like that. They're both wearing the same boots and the clothes look the same to me...go figure.