Is it false or misleading advertising when a comic has a cool cover but unappealing interior art? 1 1

[MattrixAlien]

Have you ever bought a comic because the cover was cool, but when you read it, the interior art was by a different artist, who's style you didn't like? Are there any examples you can share?

To me it's basically false or at least misleading advertising. You understandably think the art inside is going to be like what's on the outside. Yes, I know art is very subjective and what I don't like others will love.

An example for me are the Batman books of the late 80s to early 90s. You've got cool covers by the likes Kelley Jones & Mike Mignola. But the interior art was by Jim Aparo. His style at this stage in his career was flat, repetitive, minimalist and for me really unappealing.

After getting burnt by this cover bait and switch a few times as a kid I always checked the interior art before buying a comic. Don't judge a book by it's cover they say for good reason. However books particularly at LCS are often sold prebagged & sealed so it might not be possible to flip through the pages to confirm if you like the art.

Do you have any examples of buying books based on the cover and being disappointed by the interior art?

 

 

[october]

On 5/4/2022 at 7:42 PM, MattrixAlien said:

 

Do you have any examples of buying books based on the cover and being disappointed by the interior art?

 

 

LB Cole fans are intimately familiar with this type of disappointment. 

[darkstar]

On 5/4/2022 at 7:42 PM, MattrixAlien said:

You've got cool covers by the likes Kelley Jones

 

 

uh

[Robot Man]

Comic covers and their colors have always been created to stand out on a rack. To sell comics to kids. Never a promise as to contents,

Ecs are about the only books I can think of that never disappoint. 

[MattrixAlien]

On 5/5/2022 at 11:32 AM, darkstar said:

uh

Not a fan of Kelley's exaggerated style? Fair enough. But if you were & you expected the interior art would be similar you could be disappointed

 

Edited May 5, 2022 by MattrixAlien

[Juno Beach]

I know beforehand what to expect on the inside by the creator names on the cover. 

[alexgross.com]

as a little kid i learned early that a great cover meant nothing in relation to who did the art inside the book. if i couldn't look inside the book, anything was possible. marvel clearly had a strategy of trying to make amazing covers on books where the interior artist was a total hack. 

[kav]

Every DC book with a Curt Swan cover and Wayne Boring or Stan Kaye interior art.

[jcjames]

On 5/4/2022 at 7:09 PM, Juno Beach said:

I know beforehand what to expect on the inside by the creator names on the cover. 

Lot of times (House of Mystery as one example) great art from Wrightson or Adams never made it past the cover.

 

[Readcomix]

Still recovering from buying Marvel Premiere 28 off the racks…

[Brian48]

I remember back in late '70s/early '80s, Gil Kane did like 90% of all the covers for Marvel.  Must have been a time when most of the best artists left because most of the interior art was . 

[Scrooge]

On 5/4/2022 at 8:42 PM, MattrixAlien said:

Do you have any examples of buying books based on the cover and being disappointed by the interior art?

Too many to tell but I'll provide a counter example. Early issues of Crack Comics in the GA have fairly awful covers but the interiors are some of the best for the time period. Sadly, the books are less collected as a result unlike Timely's that have flashy covers but poopy interiors.

[Tnexus]

This describes pretty much every comic kickstarter.

[THE_BEYONDER]

 

[Readcomix]

On 5/4/2022 at 11:21 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

 

Much of the Invaders run too, again due to Robbins inside.

[MattrixAlien]

On 5/5/2022 at 11:50 AM, Robot Man said:

Comic covers and their colors have always been created to stand out on a rack. To sell comics to kids. Never a promise as to contents,

Ecs are about the only books I can think of that never disappoint. 

It's common for the artist who does the cover to also do the interior art though. So people expect similar art inside. The cover sets the expectations of the reader as to the style and quality of the contents like the packaging of any product

Edited May 5, 2022 by MattrixAlien

[Larryw7]

There was nothing more traumatic to me as a kid than buying a Detective with an outstanding Adams or Kaluta cover, only to open the book and see the art of Frank Robbins. 

[goldust40]

A large proportion of GA was all about the great cover and generic or sometimes worse content. Batman around the early 60s had both bad covers and interiors, so there was no bait and switch there.

In the 60s and 70s both DC (Adams, Kubert, Wrightson) and Marvel (Kane) had their best artists work on their covers, and your mileage certainly varied as to the interiors. I can recall buying Captain America in the early 70s when the interior art switched from Sal Buscema to Robbins during the Nomad story arc. Urgh.

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 5/4/2022 at 11:23 PM, Readcomix said:

Much of the Invaders run too, again due to Robbins inside.

He ruined captain America for me....

[Readcomix]

On 5/5/2022 at 7:12 AM, THE_BEYONDER said:

He ruined captain America for me....

Gah!