Cover art vs interior art

[Senormac]

I have a serious question to put to you all ( as if anyone is ever serious around here ) .....

 

Do you think cover art should be done by the artist who does the inside art, or is it better to have an excellent professional do the cover art with inferior art on the insides? Eagle Comics Judge Dredd is the first book that comes to mind, with those amazing Brian Bolland covers and Mike McMahon work on the insides. I know Marvel did it alot in the early years. Kirby did the covers to almost everything, then you'd buy it and see Don Heck or somebody else doing the story work.

 

Is this a let down or are readers happy just to have a fantastic cover on the story they are reading ? Does the cover really sell the book ? ..... or is the story important enough to carry a books readership ? Maybe it doesn't even matter cuz its a group effort anyways.

 

I have heard, somewhere along the line, that the cover sells the book and the story hooks the reader, but somehow I always felt a tinge of disappointment when looking at an Adams cover, or Carl Barks, or Jack Cole, or Mark Schultz or or or..... and that being the end of it.

 

 

[telerites]

Alex Schomburg covers were a pretty good formula for sales. Still are...

[Radj4ck]

The only thing I see wrong with it is that some creators work exclusively on covers... Bolland, Del'Otto, Djurdjevic are some modern creators that come to mind.

[Guest Reader]

It's always special to see your favorite artist pulling double duty on the cover and interior. For me, Frank Miller's 300 comes to mind. Painted wraparound covers with a painted DPS at every turn. Also Sean Phillips on Criminal/Incognito.

 

 

[shadroch]

Bolland drew many Judge Dredd stories. The only American comic series I can remember him drawing was Camelot 3000. He evidently had issues with deadlines.

[Radj4ck]

Bolland drew many Judge Dredd stories. The only American comic series I can remember him drawing was Camelot 3000. He evidently had issues with deadlines.

 

I know, he's my second favorite comic artist... Still, two series, one of them being only 12 issues long (plus the Killing joke and some pages on other books including Batman B&W) don't add up to a 30+ years career in comics!

[Senormac]

Bolland drew many Judge Dredd stories. The only American comic series I can remember him drawing was Camelot 3000. He evidently had issues with deadlines.

 

I know, he's my second favorite comic artist... Still, two series, one of them being only 12 issues long (plus the Killing joke and some pages on other books including Batman B&W) don't add up to a 30+ years career in comics!

 

Bolland must work pretty slow, but then, thats why he is so fantastic. You just can't whip out masterpieces like that. I wonder how fast Alex Schomburg worked ? I have heard Kirby was very fast and Steranko was pretty slow.

 

So radjack.... do you buy books that have Bolland covers with interior stories by someone else ?

[mackenzie999]

I would suggest that CGC is slowly marginalizing the importance of interior art.

[Soft-Serve]

Reminds me of my early comic days with Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, and Bill Sienkiewicz. Loved having great art inside and out. Nowadays, it seems like the cover is a big tease. J. Scott Campbell comes to mind. I wish that he would would do Spidey interiors, but I'll have to settle for those great pin-up covers.

[Lunchbox-migration]

Nothing worse than a Batman comic with a Neal Adams cover and Irv Novick interior art

[Brian48]

Nothing worse than a Batman comic with a Neal Adams cover and Irv Novick interior art

 

How about a Batman comic with a Neal Adams cover and Frank Robbins interior art

[rjpb]

When I was a young fanboy, I was often disappointed when a cover artist I liked didn't do the interiors, but now, as long as the interior art isn't bad, I judge the elements separately and often enjoy seeing a different take on the storyline by the cover artist.

[Senormac]

Nothing worse than a Batman comic with a Neal Adams cover and Irv Novick interior art

 

How about a Batman comic with a Neal Adams cover and Frank Robbins interior art

 

You had to go there didn't you

 

I'm pretty happy with G. or Jim A. with an Adams cover

[Senormac]

Nothing worse than a Batman comic with a Neal Adams cover and Irv Novick interior art

 

How about a Batman comic with a Neal Adams cover and Frank Robbins interior art

 

You had to go there didn't you

 

I'm pretty happy with G. or Jim A. with an Adams cover

 

Dik is a spoon word

[mackenzie999]

Nothing worse than a Batman comic with a Neal Adams cover and Irv Novick interior art

 

How about a Batman comic with a Neal Adams cover and Frank Robbins interior art

 

Way to bring a gun to a knife fight dude.

Opening an Adams cover and finding a Robbins interior is like scoring a ten and finding out she's not really a she.

[Hado]

Joe Mad's run on X-men.. The boy can't make a deadline which meant half his books were drawn by someone else.

[comix4fun]

I have a serious question to put to you all ( as if anyone is ever serious around here ) .....

 

Do you think cover art should be done by the artist who does the inside art, or is it better to have an excellent professional do the cover art with inferior art on the insides? Eagle Comics Judge Dredd is the first book that comes to mind, with those amazing Brian Bolland covers and Mike McMahon work on the insides.

 

 

 

 

Well, he did a big stretch of that run, and many of the books had his interiors as well. Given the original format of the books and their weekly frequency I don't know if having the same interior and exterior artist was always an option given that you'd sometimes have 2 artists on the interiors.

 

Some of the guys that do cover art don't do interiors and they are so good that I am not going to forgo seeing their work simply because they aren't doing the interiors.

 

A much bigger problem is a cover image that doesn't match the interior story. That's a MUCH bigger let down.

[comix4fun]

Bolland drew many Judge Dredd stories. The only American comic series I can remember him drawing was Camelot 3000. He evidently had issues with deadlines.

 

I know, he's my second favorite comic artist... Still, two series, one of them being only 12 issues long (plus the Killing joke and some pages on other books including Batman B&W) don't add up to a 30+ years career in comics!

 

 

Unless you realize that comics were printed in countries other than America.

[Radj4ck]

Bolland drew many Judge Dredd stories. The only American comic series I can remember him drawing was Camelot 3000. He evidently had issues with deadlines.

 

I know, he's my second favorite comic artist... Still, two series, one of them being only 12 issues long (plus the Killing joke and some pages on other books including Batman B&W) don't add up to a 30+ years career in comics!

 

Bolland must work pretty slow, but then, thats why he is so fantastic. You just can't whip out masterpieces like that. I wonder how fast Alex Schomburg worked ? I have heard Kirby was very fast and Steranko was pretty slow.

 

So radjack.... do you buy books that have Bolland covers with interior stories by someone else ?

 

Not really, I've toyed with the idea of getting the full run of Wonder Woman books with covers him doing the covers, but that was before I started focusing on collected editions.

Now I try to buy his artbooks and books where he worked... In a few weeks there'll be a 2000ad Hardcover with all of his works in a single book, I'm really psyched for that (I already pre-ordered it)!

[Hibou]

Nothing worse than a Batman comic with a Neal Adams cover and Irv Novick interior art

 

How about a Batman comic with a Neal Adams cover and Frank Robbins interior art

 

You had to go there didn't you

 

I'm pretty happy with G. or Jim A. with an Adams cover

 

 

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