Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Waid Wednesdays #19: Covers, A Basic Primer



“Artist, please draw more attention to the severed head.”

Probably my favorite part of the editorial job--not co-plotting with writers, not copyediting scripts, not having the interns Google me all day--is working out covers. Part of that is because I’m a particularly visually minded editor, but mostly it’s because I still believe the cover is a key sales tool and sets the readers’ expectations for what’s actually inside the book in a way that nothing else can.

There was a time when the cover’s job was more important than it is today--back when all comics were basically an inexpensive impulse purchase from newsstands and from spinner racks, before fans began pre-ordering their comic books months in advance. Yes, most shops have new comics shelved so you can see the entire cover at once, which is a step up from newsstand displays that, at best, showed only the top third, but that doesn’t make cover art three times as important as it was--in the 21st century, most buyers have already committed to buying the newest issue of AVENGERS (or whatever) before they even walk into the store, regardless of what’s on the cover.

(And if you’ve ever wondered why so many modern covers are pin-up shots of characters rather than story-oriented illustrations, the answer’s generally twofold: pin-ups can be stockpiled in advance, and they can be repurposed for t-shirts and other merchandise at far less a cost than original material.)

That said--and feel free to call me Mr. Old-School--I still believe the cover’s primary job is to catch and hold the reader’s eye on the off-chance someone might actually be on the fence about picking it up. The cover’s not there to be a showcase for the artist, not to be lush or ornate just to show off, but to catch and hold attention amidst a sea of Wolverine comics.

The cover’s secondary job is to, with its frozen-moment single illustration, convey an idea. Extra points if the image makes me laugh out loud (like Nate Watson’s, shown above, even before I asked him to make the severed head bigger to help underscore the balance of comedy and horror of SCREAM QUEEN, about a serial killer who stalks a high school while dressed as its mascot).

When I commission a cover, I first ask for a couple of sketches--not because I feel the need to suggest a million “improvements,” but because I don’t want an artist to waste his time on anything that’s too close to a piece we’ve already done or that’s already in the works. Clever ideas outrank pin-ups, at least for me. A composition that tells me that the artist has a sense of design and isn’t just doodling kewl art onto the paper is critical. And (again, pointing to Nate Watson’s sketch here) the cover has to capture the feel of the series for new readers. Once the sketch has been approved, the artist turns it into a finished piece, remembering at all times (because I am a tyrant about them) my essential rules:

1. I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY HATE ILLUSTRATIONS THAT OBSCURE THE LOGO (a.k.a. the title of the magazine). You can get away with that more easily if, like Superman’s or Playboy’s, your logo is already instantly recognizable to a mass audience. “Cthulhu Tales” is not that logo. (A great logo is in and of itself a thing of beauty. And like most works of art, I can’t produce one myself but I know a good one when I see it. One of the all-time best logo designers is the multiple-award-winning letterer Todd Klein (Sandman, Swamp Thing), who regularly runs in-depth studies on what makes logo designs work or not work. I implore you to go visit his site to read the analysis of someone exponentially more qualified than I am to explain the do’s and don’ts.

2. LOGOS SHOULD BE IN ONE SINGLE COLOR THAT’S COMPLEMENTARY TO THE COLOR OF THE MAIN ILLUSTRATION. Sub-rule: Any drop-shadow behind the logo, conversely, should be in a contrasting color. That would seem to be common sense, but you’d be aghast at how often it’s ignored.

3. LEAVE ROOM NOT ONLY FOR THE LOGO BUT FOR THE "TRADE DRESS," a.k.a. the company insignia, the issue number and month, and (God help us all) that dreaded barcode that began destroying American magazine covers before you were born and that I dream every day to someday see banished--but which, for now, remains a necessary, stinking, zebra-striped evil and I’m off-topic, aren’t I? Sorry. It’s just that, to this day, I still remember the very first comic I ever bought that had a barcode on it--Daredevil 130--and I’m still traumatized to this day. I thought it was gaudy and distracting back then, and my opinion hasn’t changed in the intervening 33 (!) years. I’d love to see barcodes banished, but in an understandable but still vomitous victory of commerce over art, most comics distributors insist that they be on the front cover or else they won’t handle your book. The advantage it gives them in computer inventory-management overrules the fact that it’s a nauseating blight. If you’re a big enough publisher, you can sneak a back-cover UPC every great once in a while, but since no advertiser is keen on having it interfere with back cover ads they’ve paid for, it’s generally not an option. Onward....

4. FLOP IT. Even if you think a cover sketch is a home run, and especially if you don’t, always turn it over and hold it up to the light so you can see what it looks like in mirror-image. A surprising number of times, it makes the mediocre good and the good better.

5. GIVE ME SOMETHING I CAN SEE FROM ACROSS THE ROOM. Bold colors. And/or white space. And/or stark illustrations. Simple is always, always better.

In the comments, if you please: your favorite comic or magazine covers.

57 comments:

Matt D said...

I'm not a massive fan of Alex Ross when it comes to interior comic work but man, can the guy do a pin-up/cover.

Spectre 22

http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~sigma7/pics/spectre/covers/spectr22.jpg

Granted, if I didn't understand what was going on there (Superman + Spear of Destiny vs Giant Spectre), I'm not sure I'd like it as much. I think it works as something that could be a promo image/poster/whatever as well as a cover that has something to do with the story though, so there's that.

wmjwatson said...

Favorite cover of all time... meaning the most memorable to me...the neon green hulk cover by keown (377?) where it's just a different looking hulk, mostly a silhouette. It just made me grab it and read it right there in the store!
Farscape 3 is the most recent example. Oh, sorry... since it had like 5 covers, I'm referring to the Scorpius holding the baby cover.
What's with all the multiple covers anyway? If the editor goes into such pain to get just the right cover... why do you need multiple covers?

Mary Sue said...

This one.

AJ said...

i love the glamourpuss covers. they're fantastic illustrations, great fashion mag sendups, and oh-so-recognizable.

Anonymous said...

I really liked the covers of Excalibur #4 and #55. Great humor and really getting into the right feel for the series in each one, and showcasing some of Alan Davis' brilliance.

Anonymous said...

For sheer dynamism, the covers of the Connor Hawke Green Arrow stick in my mind, particularly this one.

Dan Mac said...

I always appreciated 100 Bullets' covers. They typically conveyed the overarching theme of the series, and tended to capture the individual issue or storyline's plot in a satisfyingly abstract way. And they just looked good, too.

marc bernardin said...

I've always loved the cover to The Incredible Hulk #49, inspired by Where the Wild things Are:

http://100scopenotes.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/hulk-wild-thing.jpg

JoeNotCharles said...

This (on the right) has always been the classic Batman pose for me:

http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/detective-comics/11#i537

Unknown said...

For me, the absolute best cover artist in the business, bar-f**king-none, is Jo Chen. Her images don't always tell you a specific story, but you know from across the room that you need to pick the book up, and the tone is captured perfectly every single time.

In my opinion, you did leave one rule out. I'm sure it's not a rule that can often be followed, but I still think it's an important one to note, because it's ALWAYS the first thing someone who doesn't read comics asks me about when I tell them to read something:

WHERE POSSIBLE, MAKE SURE THE ART ON THE COVER MATCHES THE INTERIOR ART.I realize that's probably not possible most of the time, for tons of production-related reasons. But I swear to God, every time I give somebody a book with a pretty cover and more "comic-book-y" interior art, the following conversation occurs:

Person I Am Trying To Convince: "Ooh, that art is really pretty."

Me: "Yes, it is. And that book is awesome."

PIATTC: "Does it look the same on the inside?"

*PIATTC opens book*

Me: "...Not quite, but it's still--"

PIATTC: "No, I don't like this ["as much" is occasionally appended to this statement, in which case it is easier to convince them to read the book]. Why can't the inside look like the outside?"

Me (trying desperately to suppress the urge to choke this idiot): "...Dunno."

And my recommendation, despite the mounds of praise I've heaped on it, goes back on the shelf. I promise you, this has happened to me countless times.

So yeah, not to question your editorial wisdom, Mark, but that is, in my view, probably the biggest obstacle to successful comics evangelism today.

--Wright

MN said...

Coming from this as a manga fan nearly to the exclusion of American graphic novels and an extremely visual person I have to say I WANT the cover to be a showcase for the artist. Partially this is because unless it's in the magazines, Manga comes in trade-paperbacks (takoubons) so that most of the interior art in a book is cheaper assistant-produced black-and-white and I want to get a couple of higher quality images of the characters. Also, UPCs are on the back of all manga-books.

Filip Sablik, Publisher said...

I love that Kaare Andrews cover for Spider-man kissing Mary Jane. That's an example of a cover that made an entire book for me.
Love James Jean covers too.

Captain Splendid said...

Probably this one by Silvestri, as it's the cover that made me buy my first X-men comic, although this one (as well as the issue itself) is also a favourite for me (and probably most comics fans my age).

Cunningham said...

In DVD all these rules apply, though I would add: Give it some depth.

For example, The rhino cover illo would work better for DVD if the rhino were coming at you, swinging the lacrosse stick with the head in the net - preferably in the foreground.

Another example here:

http://www.obscurehorror.com/scarecrow2.jpg

Mr. Six said...

100 Bullets #85.

http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/File:100_Bullets_85.jpg

It's sexy, evocative and illuminates the themes of the issue, i.e. sex & power. Also gives adults a good idea that perhaps their kids shouldn't be picking it up.

A.C.K said...

Nightwing 125 by JG Jones.

http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/File:Nightwing_v.2_125.jpg

Gorgeous contrasting colors, the slight cant to the image lending it an organic feeling of motion, the stark white logo. The large static object to the left which is both an important part of the image, yet a good background for the branding/barcoding.

I'd happily have that painted on a wall in my house at about 8 ft tall. (Minus the barcode)

Noah Brand said...

The text box at the top is stupid, but still my single favorite piece of Darick Robertson art is this.

Michael Strauss said...

Flash #326.

For me, it's iconic. Bright red. The logo on his chest and the handcuffs. Just classic.

Unknown said...

I think the best cover I've ever seen was the first issue of Rocketeer. I'd read the serialized stuff in the back of Starslayer for the past couple of months, so I knew what it was, but the colors, the art and the logo got my attention from across the room at the comic shop.

Alan said...

My favorite covers come in two flavors -- the bold, picturesque ones that could be posters/spreads and the really simple ones that are so sharp and distilled they embody the work to a T.

It's easy to come up with examples of the former. The latter is a rare occurrence but tends to stick more in my mind. I have one favorite for that and two more examples, though I think all 3 are rooted in the 90's gimmick cover push.

My favorite has to be Ghost Rider Vol 2 No.15 of July, 1991. It was a glow-in-the-dark cover, went through at least 2 printings. First printing, and the better of them, was just an image of the flaming skull, in white glowy material, against black. It was sharp and looked amazing.

Other examples I can think of include the ripped cover of Wolverine no. 50 and the Punisher storyline that had individual episodes (issues) marked by the progress of colors (blood?) across the Punisher's skull emblem. (I remember red, white and green -- maybe some tie to Italy? I honestly forget, though I remember the symbol.)

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