Each Monday, staff writers Kevin Melrose and Steve Sunu discuss their five favorite covers from the previous Wednesday's new comic releases, selecting from among them CBR's Cover of the Week.

This week, Batman pulls double duty, the Thunderbolts are hopelessly lost, Parker ends up in a (literal) shooting gallery, and "Dead Body Road" looms large.

Keep reading for Kevin and Steve's favorites from the week of Dec. 11, and then discuss your choices in the CBR forums.

"Batman: Black and White" #4, by Amanda Conner (DC Comics)

The "Batman: Black and White" covers have provided a fantastic look at what artists can do with minimal colors, and Amanda Conner absolutely nails it for the fourth issue. Her use of negative space, the white background functioning as shadow, makes the contrast between the background, Batman and the victim all the more apparent. -- Steve Sunu

"Batman: Li'l Gotham" #9, by Dustin Nguyen (DC Comics)

Dustin Nguyen pays homage to Jack Burnley's classic 1942 cover for "Batman" #9 (surely the issue numbers aren't a coincidence), with the spotlight illuminating both the pint-sized Dynamic Duo and a poster advertising an appearance by Simon Trent (aka the Gray Ghost) at Gotham City Comic-Con. -- Kevin Melrose

"Parker: Slayground," by Darwyn Cooke (IDW Publishing)

While I love the tension created by the illustration's composition -- Parker crouches in the shooting gallery of the closed amusement park while the armed men approach in the distance -- the clincher is Darwyn Cooke's humorous choice of targets: the cartoonish money bags, cops chasing masked criminals and the classic police vans. -- Kevin Melrose

"Thunderbolts" #19, by Julian Totino Tedesco (Marvel)

Julian Totino Tedesco has had a solid run with his "Thunderbolts" cover, but this may be my favorite, simply for the underlying humor of the illustration: a "family" vacation delayed as Elektra and Punisher argue over a fold-out road map (how charmingly antiquated!), Deadpool takes advantage of the down time, and the rest of the group appears bored senseless. -- Kevin Melrose

COVER OF THE WEEK: "Dead Body Road" #1, by Matteo Scalera (Image Comics)

More and more covers are playing with the traditional layout, thinking outside the box in terms of focus and logo treatment. Case in point: "Dead Body Road" #1. While the title takes up nearly all of the cover, Matteo Scalera makes it work by giving sparse (but gorgeously penciled) focus pieces -- namely, the front of the car and the main character walking up to it, shotgun in tow. Beyond the creative layout, Scalera's ability to create the illusion of wind with particulates blowing around the air is particularly impressive. -- Steve Sunu