For this week’s cover of the week we travel back to the heady days of 2008 and Brian Michael Bendis’ Mighty Avengers series. I have soft spot for this series (mainly because it was really good) as it was one of the first team books I started at issue one. I got to see the formation, the initial problems etc of several super (egos) heroes working as a team. Which I assume people would have the same affection towards the original formation of the original Avengers or Justice League. So onward we march to salute the Mighty Avengers.

Mighty Avengers was launched when the Marvel Universe was in a state of change. The Civil War was over, Captain America was dead and Iron Man was now in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D. Iron Man elects Ms. Marvel to be the head of a new, government sanctioned Avengers team. Thus begins a new Avengers series that would have multiple roster changes over the span of it’s thirty-six issue series, and have three distinct shifts in tone and theme.

The cover I have picked is one of a few from this series that are of a stellar quality. I initially thought about the first issue’s’ cover by Frank Cho. Which serves as great introduction to the series and has Cho’s signature style. However there is a lot less going on in this cover than others, as it serves as an introduction to the new team, it doesn’t reveal any story points in the issue.

The cover I eventually chose for this week’s cover of the week is; Mighty Avengers #20, Secret Invasion Epilogue.

Created by Marko Djurdjevic it depicts the death of The Wasp, Janet Van Dyne. I’ve highlighted this cover because it shows off beautifully the importance of focus for a cover. By deconstructing the cover down to it’s core elements (Janet & the other Avengers) it gives the cover extra drama and incredible focus. This layout and design makes it incredibly distinctive on the shelf. This also leaves the artist to give detail to the remaining aspects, leaving the characters features bursting with emotion.

Djurdjevic is quite painterly in his style but still has an edge of detail that makes the image pop out the page. His line are also very detailed, take for example the hands of the characters. Djurdjevic took the time to position and draw the hands so there is multiple variations of the same pose, but also drawing them so they would stick out against the white background to make sure their silhouette is easy to view.

For me the cover made this issue of Mighty Avengers “complete” as the interiors dealt with her funeral and Hank Pym’s return from being kidnapped by the Skrulls. It resulted overall in a good tribute to her, and a good epilogue to the Secret Invasion.

Marko Djurdjevic has done extensive work with Marvel, creating numerous covers and promotional work. Recent notable works include his Avengers Origins covers such as this one for Vision.

It should be noted that Marko Djurdjevic has since left Marvel claiming conflict with Marvel editors and writer J. Michael Straczynski, as reported here .

Regardless of his conflicts with Marvel, Marko Djurdjevic has produced some fantastic work and as such that is why I highlighted Might Avengers #20 as my Cover of The Week.

Marko Djurdjevic’s portfolio can be found here and his personal blog here .

For More Articles, Reviews and my own comic series go to www.abandonearthcomics.com