12. The Wicked + The Divine #5 Variant By Becky Cloonan
If you were worried that Becky Cloonan had put down her pencils for good then, well, that's a weird conclusion to draw based on her writing one monthly book for DC. In fact she joined many of the best artists working today (including the aforementioned Kevin Wada) in producing variant covers for The Wicked + The Divine, the latest blockbuster series by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie The story of teenage gods reincarnated as pop stars and destined to die in two years is inarguably one of the best comics of the year that lots of people definitely read, so shush, and does rather lend itself to some beautiful iconography. For her variant cover Cloonan decided to tackle the troubled couple of Baphomet and Morrigan in an otherworldly embrace. Jamie McKelvie's unique, stylised art has dominated The Wicked + The Divine throughout, so it's pretty neat seeing another artist tackle the look of the doomed pop pantheon. Especially when it's somebody with just as singular a style as Becky Cloonan, whose manga-tinged pencils, haircuts and poses all working perfectly. Where this cover really pops, though, is in those colours - the grey, deadened skin highlighted by the Morrigan's fiery red hair and the garish yellow background.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
