We know we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but who can help it with such fantastic art? When your comic sits next to dozens of others on a rack come New Comics Wednesday, you need an amazing cover to make it pop.

Gabriel Bá, Casanova (Image); The Umbrella Academy (Dark Horse)

Once and awhile you come across a line-up of covers that justify the price regardless of the comic’s contents. From Casanova to The Umbrella Academy, Gabrial Bá knows how to make covers shine. His work demonstrates a graceful ability to shift between the deceptively simple to the impressively complex while often blending the two together to create something unique. With gorgeous colors that make his covers truly stand out, Bá’s recognizable art also boasts a strong understanding and playfulness with original layouts and designs.

Bá certainly isn’t afraid to experiment with his illustrations; the comics his covers house are made better because of it. From pastels to solid backgrounds and complimentary details, Bá dances from shading to simplicity and back again with moves you wish you could pull off. Cue that funky music. After those finishing touches, his work simply blows other covers out of the water—making them appear stale and lazily conceived. –WITA

Amy Reeder Hadley, Madame Xanadu (Vertigo/DC)

While Madame Xanadu’s story shines and the property itself is deserving of its nomination for Best New Series, the covers are the ultimate titillation. Amy Reeder Hadley’s covers are ethereal, magical and a bit eerie, just like Madame Xanadu herself. Whether it’s the pensive portrait on the cover of issue one, a dreamlike place between layers of reality on issue three, or the intimidating visage of death herself on the sixth, Hadley knows how to make her books shine amongst the masses.

And thanks to Hadley, Xanadu never falls from grace—at least on the covers. Always elegant, statuesque and knowing, Madame Xanadu manages to look both eternally youthful and wise beyond her years. These are the type of covers that are difficult to file away because they deserve much more than to be sandwiched amongst peers in a dark box. –VirtualGirl

Jo Chen, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Serenity (Dark Horse); Runaways (Marvel)

One of the best things that could have happened for Buffy the Vampire Slayer was Dark Horse securing Jo Chen for its Season 8 comic. The fact that the series has featured writers who find the original actors’ voices so well plays perfectly off of Chen’s knack for illustrating the actors exactly as you remember them; sometimes even better. *breaks for Giles swoon* Whether they’re falling through the sky at top speed or hugging doggy companions, they look almost alive enough to start talking to you.

Chen’s homage to Norman Rockwell with the cover to issue #20 was skillfully realized, but one of my favorites so far has to be her vivid look at Willow “going all veiny” on the front of issue #19 with a frightened Buffy reflected in her pupil. The crew from Serenity was also granted the beautiful Chen treatment for one issue and a trade paperback. While she’s an expert at capturing someone’s likeness, she’s just as amazing when it comes to purely fictional figures. Chen wrapped up her run on Marvel’s Runaways last year, but boy, what a run it was. Willow isn’t the only witch who gets some flying action. And who knew dinosaurs could look so cuddly? –Jill aka TheNerdyBird

James Jean, Fables (Vertigo/DC); The Umbrella Academy (Dark Horse)

There’s no doubt about it: The minute you walk into a comic store, James Jean’s extraordinarily beautiful covers stand out like a Batman amongst Robins. Every single piece of Jean’s is crafted with exquisite attention to detail—all while lending itself to a fantastical and surreal sentiment.

His covers could showcase as stand-alone paintings in the most prestigious of art galleries world-wide, and yet they are confined to the front pages of some of the most wonderful graphic novels of our time. Jean’s artwork supplies the magic for Fables and The Umbrella Academy. Unlike some things in life, judging a comic book by its cover can be a really good thing. In Jean’s case, this proves to be 100% true. From his eye-popping color schemes to his soft, fluid textures, Jean’s covers are the delectable icing on the proverbial cake. Any graphic novel would be honored to accompany his noteworthy presence, and Fables and Umbrella Academy don’t fail to uphold his genius.

Paralleling the greatness of the stories within, James Jean seems to have a knack for creating a world that sticks with you throughout a comic’s life span. It is a god-forsaken shame that Jean has retired from the Fables world as of late. His presence will be undoubtedly missed and leave an aching hole in many of the fans’ hearts. –Melissa Kay

Matt Wagner, Zorro (Dynamite); Grendel: Behold the Devil (Dark Horse)

Matt Wagner has had a pretty healthy career in comics. His name is synonymous with Grendel and he shares the Zorro spotlight with other heavy hitters in the business. With Zorro, Wagner felt so passionate about it that he sought out the assignment from Dynamite Entertainment, which also landed him the role of artistic director in the book. He’s left his mark as both writer and artist on comic books by publishers from Aardvark to Vertigo.

Throughout the ages, the character Zorro has influenced many pop culture icons, most notably Batman of DC Comics. It’s easy to compare the black wardrobes, the black horse versus the Batmobile, the secret cave lairs and the always attentive man-servants who patch them up when they are injured. Wagner takes the signature all-black costume of El Zorro and lets it govern the covers. Then he balances it with full moon lighting and sometimes tops them off with a “cherry” in the use of red roses or a sun-setting sky.

The Best Cover Artist category is always fiercely competitive, and this year Wagner is up against artists who are fan- and critic-favorites and who also have much better-selling titles. –Amber Love

Related Posts:

• Best Coloring
• Best Penciller/Inker
• Best Writer
• Best Continuing Series
• Best New Series