Come on baby, cover me: I haven't seen a Marvel Comics cover I've liked in ... well, a long time. The Jemas-mandated move to "iconic" covers in which the characters strike a pose better suited for convention sketches ran out of juice sometime back. Much has been made of the lack of variety (and flavor) in Ultimate Spider-Man covers; it's gotten to the point that the casual reader can't be certain which issue he's picking up. The other Spider-books aren't much better. I mean, how many "iconic" shots of Spider-Man swinging out over the city toward the reader can we take?

But I don't come to bury Marvel's covers; I come to praise Kaare Andrews' cover for the clunky-titled Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One #1 (shown above). Sure, it's essentially a pin-up, with Doc Ock -- the dumpy, geeky Doc Ock, not the recently redesigned Matrix clone -- glaring out at us. However, Andrews injects a sense of humor and menace, by depicting what I presume is a young, cherubic Octavius (is that his name?), proudly gripping a beaker, and standing within the clutches of the adult Octavius' mechanical tentacles.

That image by itself would make a cover stronger than most any other Marvel has published in recent months. But Andrews adds another element, another layer: He sets the two Doc Ocks against the background of Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man. I have no interest in the story of Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One #1, but I must have that cover.

Now, where was I going with this? Oh, yeah. Marvel released its solicitations for June yesterday afternoon, instead of the customary Monday at noon.

With the second Spider-Man movie opening July 3, it comes as no surprise that Marvel floods the shelves with six new Spider-books (that's in addition to the five it already had, plus myriad Marvel Age titles). Among them is Powerless, a six-issue series that explores what Peter Parker, Matt Murdock and Logan would've done if they didn't have superhuman powers. Alex Maleev's depiction of Logan on the cover makes me wonder why Marvel doesn't just advertise, "And starring Hugh Jackman as Logan!" (Yeah, yeah. I know. Money, contracts, legalities, blah, blah. I was just kidding, anyway).

Marvel's also taking full advantage of Brian Michael Bendis' heralded relaunch of The Avengers, with supposed tie-ins and guest appearances in no less than six books.

Speaking of glut, Marvel figures it'll exploit Joss Whedon's Hollywood profile by issuing an Astonishing X-Men #1 Director's Cut. A director's cut? As if that's not enough, there's a variant cover! Come on!

Other items of note:

* Ultimate Fantastic Four #7-8 -- Warren Ellis takes over
* Mary Jane #1 -- Sean McKeever and Takeshi Miyazawa launch a new Marvel Age aimed at girls that might actually be of interest to girls; this could be a Marvel first
* Amazing Fantasy #1 and Spider-Girl #75 -- Does anyone know what the hell is going on here?
* NYX #5 -- Solicited again
* Identity Disc #1 -- Marvel's villains team up in an attempt to stop Brad Meltzer's Identity Crisis, or something like that; on the plus side, Tony Harris is doing the covers
* Thor #80-81 -- Michael Avon Oeming unseats Dan Jurgens
* Thor: Son of Asgard #5 -- Dude, Thor's hot!
* The Avengers #84 -- Chuck Austen destroys the Avengers; wait, isn't that Bendis' gig?
* Invaders #0 -- Chuck Austen destroys my childhood memories
* Witches #1-2 -- So, Earth's Sorcerer Supreme needs three teen-agers to help him? Charmed, I'm sure