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

[Jeffro.]

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

To me it's basically false or at least misleading advertising.

 No. That's called marketing

[Bluemedgroup]

Never judge a book by its cover.  I think that's been said perpetually throughout the history of printed works.  

[shadroch]

There was a reason why publishers had Schomburg doing twenty covers a month instead of a single 20 page story. 

Edited May 5, 2022 by shadroch

[shadroch]

On 5/5/2022 at 4:12 AM, THE_BEYONDER said:

He ruined captain America for me....

Of course, after Kirby replaced Robbins you had people yearning for the good old days. At least the Robbins books made sense, unlike Kirby's trip down the rabbit hole.

[Sal]

by the musty sheath of man-wolf, the total number of books with great covers and garbage interiors DWARFS the combined total of books with both or great cover/interior combos. take any stack of monthly books in nearly any period and i would be willing to bet the majority of them are great/garbage cover/interior combos. the entire industry and hobby are practically predicated on the quality of the cover and the cover alone, for the love of John Jameson

Edited May 5, 2022 by Sal
so there isnt a filter anymore, it just removes the word in question, which is really, really odd

[F For Fake]

A friend of mine, when we were growing up, was so peeved because he thought the covers to Sandman were so great, but the interiors just "look like normal comic books." Now, I'd argue that Sandman had a murderer's row of interior art talents, but I understood his point, because they were so drastically different. I think a similar argument could be made for comics with Sienkiewicz covers, or Alex Ross, or any of a long list of artists where the cover artist had an extremely different aesthetic from the interiors. It can be jarring, sure, but it's not false advertising. It's the hook, to get you to pick up the book. 

And for the record, I love Kelley Jones. He's my favorite Bat-artist. Yes, more than that guy. And that guy too. Yup.

[Ken Aldred]

I must be a bit of an anomaly in this regard, as I never paid that much attention to the cover or treated it as an inducement to buy. Never occurred to me.  If I was following a title, I’d buy it anyway. If the stories started to go downhill, I’d drop it, regardless of what was on the front. I could still judge harshly, but nothing so superficial.

Edited May 5, 2022 by Ken Aldred

[Ken Aldred]

On 5/5/2022 at 12:12 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

He ruined captain America for me....

But, think of the cumulative hours of entertainment this often-posted image has provided for so, so many boardies, worldwide, over many years.

We should, in retrospect, be grateful.

Edited May 5, 2022 by Ken Aldred

[SeniorSurfer]

Like everyone else has noted, it's basically just an attention grabber to have you buy the book, and it's difficult to come up to the standards of a Frazetta or Adams or Wrightson or etc. cover unless the whole interior is by them.  Even without using Frank Robbins as the go-to guy who's work is (by definition) worse than any book's cover artist, I was going to feel disappointed and a little cheated.  For example, I had nothing against Frank Springer, but he couldn't sharpen Steranko's pencil and it was a real cold shower shock when I cracked open SHIELD #7:

 

[Ken Aldred]

On 5/5/2022 at 10:30 AM, Larryw7 said:

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. 

 

On 5/5/2022 at 4:23 AM, Readcomix said:

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

 

On 5/5/2022 at 4:21 AM, THE_BEYONDER said:

 

 

On 5/5/2022 at 3:53 AM, Readcomix said:

Still recovering from buying Marvel Premiere 28 off the racks…

We seemed to get everything by Robbins.

As a kid in England in the 1970s, many big Marvel titles weren’t distributed here, such as Amazing Spider-Man and Avengers, and desperate comic book geeks like myself were left scraping by with the dregs on the newsagent racks.  One vivid memory from that time was opening a comic book with a nice cover and getting the all-too-common, distressing, crushingly-disappointed reaction…

“Oh, bloody hell, not Frank Robbins again!”

No wonder the US cent import copy market and dedicated comic shops took off here, I suspect mainly as a way to circumvent this ongoing misery and deprivation.

Edited May 5, 2022 by Ken Aldred

[Cat]

That's probably one of the many reasons I enjoyed Fantastic Four so much as a kid. Never had the flashiest cover, but you knew going in it was going to be a Paul Ryan cover with Paul Ryan interiors. It did what it said on the tin. My X-Men books were all over the place, but my FF books were consistent, each and every month. 

[Jeffro.]

I'm reminded of several early issues of Web of Spiderman that had nice covers by Vess or Byrne and then when you opened it up you were treated to stuff like Greg LaRocque and Jim Mooney.  Not that those guys were ever as bad as Robbins or Coletta but it sure was pedestrian. 

[Ken Aldred]

An excellent example for DC is Nick Cardy, who throughout the late Silver Age and the Bronze Age created some absolutely superb covers, hiding a lot of very average artwork inside.

I suppose at that age, 8 or 9, I wasn’t particularly critical and was just content to be able to find some original American comics, regardless of the disparity between cover and interior art.

Edited May 5, 2022 by Ken Aldred

[theCapraAegagrus]

Nah.

[D84]

It's worse today. All the beautiful variants by some of today's best comic artists and interiors look like they were done by people who flunked out of art school.

[shadroch]

On 5/5/2022 at 8:32 AM, D84 said:

It's worse today. All the beautiful variants by some of today's best comic artists and interiors look like they were done by people who flunked out of art school.

You open them?

[eastriver400]

Once it is slabbed, does it really matter anymore?

[ThothAmon]

Trying not to disrespect Rich Yager but how could it be as good?
 

[Axe Elf]

On 5/5/2022 at 7:52 AM, Bluemedgroup said:

Never judge a book by its cover.  I think that's been said perpetually throughout the history of printed works.  

I guess those people never participated in a grading contest...

[Ken Aldred]

On 5/5/2022 at 5:22 PM, ThothAmon said:

Trying not to disrespect Rich Yager but how could it be as good?
 

The gap couldn’t be wider on that run.

Edited May 5, 2022 by Ken Aldred