So I just found out that DC is putting out something they call
The Bronze Age Batman Omnibus. Checking it out on Amazon, it's really more of a
Brave and the Bold Omnibus as it's going to to feature issues 87 to 122 of the Brave and the Bold.
Sound just like the sort of thing I'd be all about, right? I mean, the great Jim Aparo art and, ahem, topical, Jim Haney stories make that my favorite era of Brave and the Bold. However, the cover is a bit lackluster. Check this out:
No two ways about it - that cover really doesn't "sell" the great Bronze Age content. What's even worse is that because of the title, this looks like this is going to be the ongoing trade package for this entire line. :(
Anyway, I took it upon myself to redesign the cover more to my liking. Here's what I came up with.
You'll notice I took the liberty of spelling out the exact nature of the content by adding the Brave and the Bold masthead AND giving Bob Haney and Jim Aparo credits on the cover. I also took advantage of all the guest-stars that appeared in the issues to make the cover more eye catching.
The one issue some people might have with my cover is that Batman isn't shown. That's a fair complaint, so a created another version which had shows the Batman on it.
Hope you like them!
- Jim
Nice! It seems a bit Watchmem-ish, though.
ReplyDeleteIndeed it does. ;)
ReplyDeleteI think the DC cover was done to appeal to a none-comics reading market, with its (arguably) more "graphic design-y" approach. But then again, the main market for these kinds of things are the, shall we say, older comics readers. So I don't know what DC's marketing division is thinking.
ReplyDeleteHaving the image of Batman and Wonder Woman in shape of the bathead logo is redundant if the actual bathead logo is right underneath it. Also don't know why the background is colored and textured to look kinda like a basketball. It's not graphic design so much as graphic..stuff.
ReplyDeleteI like your mock-ups Jim though I do wish there was a way to get the bathead in there with the montage of cover images. Or some way to create a Bronze Age style comic cover for it with a modern flare.
@Reno - yeah, I believe the publishing division probably handed this project off to someone who wanted to put their stamp of design on the book by creating a new look and feel for the series (a bit like they did with the DC Archive line) but here it was just a terrible fail.
ReplyDelete@MattComix - "like a basketball!" I love it! Yeah, Trey suggested the color is supposed to represent Bronze, but it just looks sad. What I think is probably the worst sin of a cover like this is that the designer seems to have recklessly discounted that comic covers have literally decades of marketing data to prove their effectiveness in capturing their target market. All of that is cast aside so the designer can, I don't know, put together this static, unevocative cover.
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ReplyDelete@Jim Shelley. Not sure why "The Bronze Age" is even there let alone building the design of the cover around it. It's not like DC currently and consistently has had this title running. Besides the cartoon and very short-lived other attempt's the bronze age Brave and The Bold is basically the ONLY Brave and The Bold. The BA distinction just doesn't seem that necessary to me. It is (wonderfully) obvious the art in this comic is not from a modern series.
ReplyDelete..and really why the hell would a designer not use years worth of awesome Jim Aparo art at their disposal for their cover design? You could pick one great image of Batman himself and have a montage of all the heroes he teams-up with behind him.
Batman and wonder woman is really famous characters of super heroes and people like to watch their series and movies to refresh their mind after too much best essays and books readings. But nowadays new comics becoming more famous and kids like them more.
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