This is the new cover format for The Fantastic Four. This issue is the third with this format and I hoped that it wouud grow on me. It has not. I think the guys at Marvel are going for a magazine format, but the result looks boring. I bought the book because of Bryan Hitch, the penciler, but I have to say something about this ugly cover. Take a good look at the cover posted and follow my points.
A- The Fantastic Four logo looks like Fantastic 'A'. And it's been white on a dark BG for three issues now. One of the reasons for having a readable, open logo with different colors each month, is that it lets the buyer know that this is a different book from last month.
B- These days, you rarely see a word balloon on the cover. I think that a sensational piece of dialogue on the cover can get people excited about the interior, but it looks like nobody remembered how to do it over there. "Cap, please! Don't kill us!" are you kidding? I would imagine The Thing saying something a bit more heroic. To be honest, I really hate that dumb balloon. Check out a cover balloon from the 70s. The Golden Age of cover copy.
C-The Thing with chicklet teeth. Ugh. The teeth make him look like a muppet. I perfer the classic look.
D- Exciting copy can add a lot to a cover. This boring type is just information.
E- Finally, this book is rated Tplus. I guess a kid under 13 should not read The Fantastic 'A'. That is too bad.
I bought the last 3 issues of this book so I am as guilty as they are.
5 comments:
Another think I could add is that the pplacement of the logo is bad. Having it at the bottom of the cover is a bad idea. I worked for a year in a comic shop, and I can say with some authority that having the logo there doesn't work. See, when these comics are placed on the stand, in many comic shops, the bottem two thirds of the cover will be obscured by other comics. It's the way that many comic stores build their racks. Sure, there are some stores where the comics are displayed in such a manner that the entire comic is showing, but there are many more where they are displayed in the old fashioned manner.
Yeesh. I totally agree with you about the logo--and those TEETH! He looks ridiculous!
Bit the worst thing is the "thirteen plus" rating. What the hell are those people doing over there? Deliberately trying to kill the comics industry by shunning a new generation of readers? It's like a suicidal SICKNESS!
I haven't picked up these comics yet. I'm curious to see Hitch's artwork, but I don't think I should encourage the demise of our industry by giving Marvel my money for this stuff. Maybe I can borrow your copies? :)
That 4 really does look like an A.
Ewhll. Totally agree across the board. The logo totally screams Corporate Identity Logo Package rather than Comics. Tune into NEWS 4 LOCAL television!! Yuck... Ixnay on the teeth as well; nobody wants to see The Thing's new veneers.
I still can't get over that cover.
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