February 19

Two variant covers in the medal winners stand out this week. One Marvel, One DC, and one independent. That is fun.

Also-Rans: The End of Life #1, White Sky #1, Smile For the Camera #1 (Foil), Amazing Spider-Man #22, Ultimate Spider-Man #24 (Cover E), X-Men #25 and Fantastic Four #8.

Bronze Medalist

Batman/Superman World’s Finest #48

Variant cover B

Cover art by Mark Spears

Last year’s cover champ returns for a Bronze Medal with the first time Mark Spears draws The Joker. As always, he brings a gravitas to the covers.

Silver Medalist

Smile: For the Camera #1

Cover art by Skylar Patridge

Dark ID has come out with a new story set in the Smile universe. Smile is one of the creepiest and scariest horror film franchises and now, looking at this cover, perhaps Smile is going to make this one of the best horror comics around. The scissors on this cover with the blood dripping from them… frightening.

Gold Medalist

It’s Jeff! Meets Daredevil #1

Variant Cover C

Cover art by Nic Klein

Some of my favorite covers recently have been horror movie homages, and last year’s cover of the year was a Jaws metal cover from the Mark Spears Monster run. This cover has the same pieces to it and I just love DD as Jaws coming up under Jeff. Those giant fangs and wide open mouth of Daredevil makes this one of the best variants of the year so far.