Again, there wasn:t THAT much that seemed Worst about the covers for August, but there sure were a heck of a lot that were just bland. So, I'm sorry, Mario Alberti, for having to single out your comic cover here, but you can blame my own high standards.
The cover has a nice asymmetrical element because of the area on the side for the logo, but I'm tempted to think that wasn't the original design, as the whole thing seems compressed and shunted out of the way. There are other little problems that bug me, such as the elongated torso of Spider-Man and the Human Torch's leg shortage. I also don't like it when artists get kid's faces wrong, and they end up looking like miniature adults, as with the case of Franklin's face, here. But the biggest problem I have is the coloring. It throws off the whole picture. The coloring is brightest and in most contrast with the green in the Human Torch, drawing your eye up there instead of toward Franklin, where the real drama is. The duplicated shadow of Venom is lost by virtue of the background that's literally awash with the green, instead. There is an idea of a motif, but really some other variation of colors would be better than to simply have an overlay with the entire picture. The tension is pretty dramatic, of course but that seems lost because the whole this is so muddy. I like the almost pencil-like quality, however. That was nice.
Spider-Man/Fantastic Four # 2, cover art by Mario Alberti, on sale Aug. 4
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