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Eric Jansen
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 27 October 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 2364
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| Posted: 10 January 2016 at 5:14pm | IP Logged | 1
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I hate variants, and they're mostly of the "pin-up" stripe now. I think pin-up covers are dumb because I cannot tell at all if it's an issue I already bought or not! So I might just not buy that series at all, and they've lost a sale.
When I was a kid or teen, I sometimes bought an issue twice because I didn't remember that I already bought it. I blame that on the more generic pin-up style covers. When the cover is based on the story inside, you know for sure whether you bought it already or not.
Buying duplicates was not so much an issue when they were 25 cents, but it's something you really want to avoid when they're $3.99! (Yes, there's inflation, but I think if inflation were the only factor in raising prices, comics would be about $2 now.)
In general though, I have no problem when a good cover artist does the cover and a good interior artist does the interior. I would love buying a Neal Adams cover on a Superman book with Curt Swan interiors! But when the cover artist is TEN times better than the interior artist (who might be some unknown who's not quite ready for primetime), THEN we have a problem!
Edited by Eric Jansen on 10 January 2016 at 5:17pm
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Brian Hague
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 14 November 2006
Posts: 8515
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| Posted: 10 January 2016 at 9:38pm | IP Logged | 2
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"Back in the day" it seemed as if generic or pin-up covers were frowned upon, editorially. There's an excellent Neal Adams Action Comics cover of Superman flying upwards with a photo of New York as the backdrop. A wonderful image, yet the editor felt it necessary to give the potential buyer some sense of what the story inside was all about. The cover copy reads something along the lines of, "Wipe that smile off your face, Superman! You've just become... 'The Most Dangerous Man in Metropolis!'"
There was no real sense that the image alone would sell the comic. Ah, how things have changed in the interim...
I distinctly remember being blown away when the trend towards single image, non-story related covers started up... There was a Frank Miller Superman & Batman World's Finest cover... The Frank Miller covers to Superman: The Secret Years... A run of Gil Kane covers for Wonder Woman... A stunning Frank Cirocco painting of the Valkyrie done for the Defenders... Those things knocked me out!
But very, very quickly the bloom left that rose. A few every now and then seem like an event... Non-story related covers all the time quickly became average, uninformative, and bland. When nothing ties the cover image to interior of the book, both elements lose distinctiveness. How anyone can remember which issue of Ultimate Spider-Man is their favorite one just by looking at the cover is beyond me... I'm sure many can, but for me, seeing Superman flying with Lois perched on his shoulder soaring over the Daily Star building makes Action #484 sing in a way a standard Superman pose simply wouldn't. When you get to revisit the story as well as the character, the impact is so much more effective.
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Mike Norris
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 4274
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| Posted: 10 January 2016 at 11:44pm | IP Logged | 3
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I don't mind different cover artist all that much. The Kirby covers for the Invaders series were great. Kirby interiors would have been quite the treat, though!
Edited by Mike Norris on 10 January 2016 at 11:48pm
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Philippe Negrin
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 August 2007
Location: France
Posts: 2644
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| Posted: 11 January 2016 at 1:55am | IP Logged | 4
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False advertising. Deception. I never liked it.
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David Lowe
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 25 June 2012
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 44
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| Posted: 11 January 2016 at 7:03am | IP Logged | 5
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I really liked one example of different cover/interior artist: the covers of Preacher were all (I think) drawn/painted(?) by Glenn Fabry and were gorgeous; very different from the interior art by Steve Dillon, but usually featuring some aspect of the story within.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133317
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| Posted: 11 January 2016 at 7:43am | IP Logged | 6
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I don't mind different cover artist all that much. The Kirby covers for the Invaders series were great. •• I was hoping someone other than me would mention Kirby. Those covers were done during the years before his deification, when fandom was turning away from (and against) him en masse. Those covers are a reminder of the efforts expended by the Powers That Were at Marvel to keep giving him work, even tho they knew he was not popular. As I have often said, the only really worthwhile thing Image did was adopting Kirby as their "mascot", albeit for all the wrong reasons. But at least it forced a generation of know-thing "fans" to acknowledge the man and his work.
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Wallace Sellars
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 17699
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| Posted: 11 January 2016 at 8:20am | IP Logged | 7
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Add me to the list of those who (usually) dislike it when an artist other than the
one penciling the book does the cover. I especially dislike it when the cover
artist is someone whose work I really enjoy, and the interior artist is someone
whose work is far less appealing.
Edited by Wallace Sellars on 11 January 2016 at 1:38pm
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Eric Jansen
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 27 October 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 2364
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| Posted: 11 January 2016 at 10:11am | IP Logged | 8
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I liked Kirby's covers during that period. It was fun to see him draw Tigra or Ghost Rider, characters that he would probably never draw a story for. (But now that I mention it--!)
It's looking like I'm in the minority here. There are some artists who put a lot of work (either detail or planning) into a cover and there are artists whose expertise lends itself to telling panel-to-panel story pages--I'm fine with each doing what each does best...for the best of the comic.
I really like good painted covers by people like Alex Ross, but I actively dislike most painted story pages! Go figure.
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Mike Norris
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 4274
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| Posted: 11 January 2016 at 10:37am | IP Logged | 9
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Gold Key's use of painted covers always seemed wrong to me. Comics are drawn, not painted!!!!
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133317
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| Posted: 11 January 2016 at 10:40am | IP Logged | 10
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Comics are drawn, not painted!!!! ••• Tell that to Alex Ross!
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Jack Bohn
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 July 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 747
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| Posted: 11 January 2016 at 11:21am | IP Logged | 11
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In the days when the interiors were on pulp paper it seemed natural to me that the covers would have better art. I've never gotten angry over that... as long as the interior kept a minimum level of competence, I can think of one case when it didn't.
I'd like to ask your opinions on the polar opposite of the pin-up cover, the multi-panel storytelling cover (as distinct from insets with pictures of the "Special Surprise Guest Star"). I've viewed them as sort of "failures;" the artist couldn't "get it in one," you might say. Then I was listening to a podcast extolling the virtues of the Lee/Ditko Spider-Man, including the covers to ASM #s 4 and 9, and I may have to rethink this.
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Marc Cheek
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 18 June 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 1785
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| Posted: 11 January 2016 at 12:10pm | IP Logged | 12
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It's not something that I've ever thought much about, so no, it never really bothered me.
I'm a big fan of JK's mid-70s covers too!
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