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Brian Floyd
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 07 July 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 8376
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| Posted: 15 April 2007 at 10:08am | IP Logged | 1
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Funny thing is, I almost made a post about this subject a few days ago after I had been thinking about the covers for X-Men from the last time I read the series, which looked more like fodder for pin-ups or posters than actual covers. I guess it keeps artists who can only do portraits and such employed as cover artists and makes it easier for artists who sell their artwork to sell them, but I don't see any real advantage to those covers other than that, and I'd rather have an action shot or something that actually relates to the story on the cover, even if it doesn't have any dialog on it. Heck, the covers to Man of Steel could have been used as pin-ups, but at least they actually had artwork relating to the stories inside on them instead of just a figure standing there on a nice background and nothing else. Most covers nowadays don't even have that.
A pin-up type cover is okay every once in a while, but NOT as a regular occurance.
I wonder if the change in cover styles (from actually relating to the material inside to pin-ups and crap) has had any noticable effects on actual sales.....
Edited by Brian Floyd on 15 April 2007 at 10:08am
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Brad Hague
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Joined: 19 December 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 1713
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| Posted: 15 April 2007 at 10:57am | IP Logged | 2
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I think by now, anyone who is interest in X-Men: First Class, has now abandoned any expectation of continuity and assumes this is some other alternate universe.
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Michael Everall
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Joined: 31 March 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 640
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| Posted: 15 April 2007 at 11:08am | IP Logged | 3
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…this looks more like a Fleer X-Men trading card.
***
Not to mention looking like something you might
expect to see at the costume parade of a convention.
***
Hmm, convention-goers must have been more attractive when you did the circuit JB. The things I saw at my last convention... could only be used as covers for Tales Too Terrible to Tell!
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Joe Zhang
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Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 12857
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| Posted: 15 April 2007 at 11:16am | IP Logged | 4
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Some people should be legally barred from wearing spandex or lycra.
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Rick Hannah
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Joined: 04 April 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 547
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| Posted: 15 April 2007 at 11:25am | IP Logged | 5
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Thom, I think your criticism belongs squarely on Silver Age DC. Which is why, even as a child, I had no interest in them. Loved the characters, hated the stories.
And I know some of you loved those type of stories. They were fun for some and sadly, if you liked that sort of thing, they're gone, probably for good.
Me, I was happy when Crisis obliterated that stuff. I could read DC again!
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Michael Connell
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Joined: 13 January 2006
Posts: 4026
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| Posted: 15 April 2007 at 11:26am | IP Logged | 6
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I love this cover, it denotes action as well as the mystery of the villains identity.
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Michael Everall
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Joined: 31 March 2007
Location: United States
Posts: 640
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| Posted: 15 April 2007 at 12:07pm | IP Logged | 7
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But such points are not good cover fare. They
belong to the last page of the issue -- the page that is, done right,
effectively an "ad" for the next issue.
***
Hope I'm not going to far off the topic here, but this reminded me of something I was thinking about.
Silver Age DC comics often showed the whole story on the 1st page inside. Either showing off the big fight scene or pretty much giving up the story. I think that was a terrible practice. Contrast this to the first page inside Byrne's Fantastic Four issues, which usually start with yet another draw (a shot of Galactus with the words "I'm dying."). Those 1st pages just make me want to read even more!
Then the last page, as JB said...is also very important. Robert Kirkman might not be to everyone's taste, but he manages to hit you with a cliff-hanger at the end of every issue. This trick has made me yearn for the next issue of Invincible every single time. It even got me to check out Ultimate Spider-Man awhile, even though I'm not crazy about that series.
The cover can definitely lure you, but those two pages at the start and the end can keep you hooked if done properly.
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Joe Hollon
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Joined: 08 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 13678
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| Posted: 15 April 2007 at 12:35pm | IP Logged | 8
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Below is the cover to New Avengers #29 which just came out this past week. When I first saw the cover I thought, "Wow! Action on the cover of a modern Marvel comic! Amazing!" My very next thought, less than a split second later was, "Wow, what an ugly, ugly cover."
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Martin Redmond
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Joined: 27 June 2006
Posts: 3882
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| Posted: 15 April 2007 at 1:45pm | IP Logged | 9
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Well I'm not as die hard as you all. I think both modern covers posted are alright. They only ones that piss me off is "generic pose of hero doing nothing". And that is mostly a Marvel problem these days.
Also, having artists who only do "covers" annoys me too, no matter how good they are. I'm not spending one dime just cuz the cover is kewl.
Edited by Martin Redmond on 15 April 2007 at 1:47pm
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Kevin Barber
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Joined: 21 December 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 220
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| Posted: 15 April 2007 at 1:53pm | IP Logged | 10
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Joe,...you are so correct. I am just so disapointed with where comics are
going.This cover, like so many today, is a muddy mess.There is nothing
about this cover that would make me want to buy this particular issue.
Especially if it was my first intro to comics and these characters. Here's a
test for everyone. Go into your local comics shop and look at the wall with
the new releases from a distance. It's a dark muddy mess with nothing
standing out over the other. It all just blends into one big pile of
mudd.Shapes, and characters become hard to distinguish.There is
nothing in any particular issue grabbing my eye to tell me "hey comic
reader,...buy me over the book next to me." " You gotta have me." Now
turn around and look at the older books behind the counter . Most are
bright , welcoming, with clarity of figure , and intent of storyine.As well as
being super clear they grab you with an intensity ."What,...in this issue
Flash dies?And i did it? I've gotta have this book. I've got to know what
this means."
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Dave Rolls
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Joined: 24 June 2004
Posts: 309
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| Posted: 15 April 2007 at 1:54pm | IP Logged | 11
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I'm pretty lost these days. I only go by the comic cover - I have no idea what issue number of anything Im reading is, so these generic posing covers really dont help me at all!!
Very topical case in point - Here's the latest 2 covers from Garth Ennis' Midnighter comic (issues 5 and 6)... my comic shop owner had to point out it was a different issue:
 
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Ray Brady
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Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 3740
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| Posted: 15 April 2007 at 2:09pm | IP Logged | 12
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Even more annoying is Marvel's practice of reprinting comics with a different
cover than the first time around. I was tricked twice into buying duplicate
issues of a title before I learned I had to scutinize the insides of any Marvel
comic I bought.
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Topic Closed)
