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Paul Reis Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 926
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Posted: 10 January 2016 at 10:15am | IP Logged | 1
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i am not sure what the current trend in comics is these days with respect to cover artists, but in my "collecting" days it was very common to have a cover by a known "cover artist" rather than the "interior/regular artist" of the comic.
i was just wondering how you guys feel/felt about this. i never liked it - true, i loved the many, many, many, Neal Adams covers from DC - but i would have much rather had an additional monthly from him. similarly with Marvel (i know! it's M***** now, but it was Marvel back then) there was a period where i am sure (but can't prove) that Gil Kane drew all the covers. i would have much rather preferred a "monthly" from him.
basically i feel the interior artist should tackle the cover. (and to those who say the covers require an artist that knows how to layout a cover to "sell" the comic, i can only retaliate with: that's what an editor and Marie Severin are for, to provide the "sellable" layout, if required, back to the artist).
i guess my one exception would have be a comic like House of Mystery that might contain 3 stories by 3 artists - again, the editor would be the one with the power to determine what would be required and if it would be required from one of those 3 artists or a 4th.
i guess as a secondary question, and again, i don't know if it is currently being done, i dislike "stock" covers by known artists that just feature the character in a generic pose and has absolutely nothing to do with that month's story. any opinions on this? (there's a name for this, isn't there, "stock" covers doesn't sound right)
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Joe Smith Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 29 August 2004 Location: United States Posts: 6666
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Posted: 10 January 2016 at 10:39am | IP Logged | 2
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Iconic, I believe.
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Joe Smith Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 29 August 2004 Location: United States Posts: 6666
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Posted: 10 January 2016 at 10:52am | IP Logged | 3
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Reading thru the ART OF P. CRAIG RUSSELL, my brain sizzled at the idea that Marvel wanted the covers to have the 'heroes in peril' during the 70's. It makes sense now, but, I was too young to notice the motif.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 133317
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Posted: 10 January 2016 at 10:53am | IP Logged | 4
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Pin-up. Or generic.
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Jim Petersman Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 26 June 2012 Location: United States Posts: 650
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Posted: 10 January 2016 at 11:07am | IP Logged | 5
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Never even noticed when I was kid. Once I became a teen, and knew who the artists were, it could annoy me. Several times I ended up buying a book I normally wouldn't have, but that Byrne or Perez guy did the cover and that sucked me in. More often than not, I was disappointed by the book itself. I quickly learned to scan through before deciding whether or not to purchase.
The only time that pissed me off was when Green Lantern went through a brief period of slapping new covers on reprints (several issues between 180-200, if I recall correctly). Granted, that's less about the artist, but it does speak to the "deceptiveness" factor that covers can play. Why the editor didn't have a single filler issue in the drawer is beyond me. Why it still irritates me decades later is also beyond me ;)
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Doug Centers Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 February 2014 Location: United States Posts: 5591
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Posted: 10 January 2016 at 11:09am | IP Logged | 6
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I would prefer cover and interior artists be the same but I understand time constraints and marketing would play a factor in the decisions (remembering a whole host of Kirby covers from the late seventies).
As for the second question, I liked covers that pertained to the stories within. Pin-ups were fine when it was an anniversary issue celebrating the hero.
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Trevor Thompson Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 June 2015 Posts: 346
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Posted: 10 January 2016 at 12:56pm | IP Logged | 7
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Pin-up. Or generic.
************************************************ I cannot stand them. I don't mind if they're done for issue ones but done for every issue is just silly. Where's the wow factor? I know I sound like a grumpy old man but when I was a kid I'd pick up books based on covers that caught my imagination. I like ones that make me think, "What's going on in this book?", "How's Spider-Man going to get out of this situation?" "Why is Superman lying helplessly in an alleyway asking a stranger for help?" "I must find out."
99% of covers I see now are just pin-ups and movie posters, pah!
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Joe Smith Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 29 August 2004 Location: United States Posts: 6666
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Posted: 10 January 2016 at 1:08pm | IP Logged | 8
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I loved the Kane/Romita covers for just that reason.
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Joe Hollon Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 08 May 2004 Location: United States Posts: 13697
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Posted: 10 January 2016 at 2:02pm | IP Logged | 9
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I greatly prefer most covers to be done by the interior artists and feature something about the story within...NOT just generic pin-ups. But it seems that is what we mostly get these days. Or the even worse trend: variants that have nothing to do with the comic at all. Deadpool variants are all the rage featuring Deadpool randomly on the cover to any comic even though he's not in the interior and the actual stars of the comic are nowhere to be found on the cover. I just don't get it.
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Dale Lerette Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 24 March 2010 Location: Canada Posts: 750
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Posted: 10 January 2016 at 2:28pm | IP Logged | 10
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I preferred the cover art to be done by the interior artist. And if the cover artist was actually better than the interior artist I would sometimes feel a bit robbed. Usually this wasn't the case.
I also liked it when the cover actually did a scene from the comic. Occasionally I would see a cover that had a scene that happened nowhere in the comic. I would look through the comic twice trying to find it. But that was more of a minor irritant.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 133317
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Posted: 10 January 2016 at 2:38pm | IP Logged | 11
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Pin-up. Or generic.************************************************ I cannot stand them. I don't mind if they're done for issue ones but done for every issue is just silly. Where's the wow factor? I know I sound like a grumpy old man but when I was a kid I'd pick up books based on covers that caught my imagination. I like ones that make me think, "What's going on in this book?", "How's Spider-Man going to get out of this situation?" "Why is Superman lying helplessly in an alleyway asking a stranger for help?" "I must find out." 99% of covers I see now are just pin-ups and movie posters, pah! •• Agreed. And, of course, mostly driven by books being late, so editors don't actually know what will be inside! At least, that was how it was when "monthly" meant, you know, MONTHLY.
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Andy Mokler Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 20 January 2006 Location: United States Posts: 2799
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Posted: 10 January 2016 at 3:27pm | IP Logged | 12
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It's a huge pet peeve for me. If a comic has a different artist on the cover than the interiors, it's going to be a tough sell for me. On rare occasions the interior artist is the one that I'm interested in so I'm stuck. But more often than not, they put the "good' artist on the cover and someone I don't care for on the interiors.
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