As part of my ongoing campaign as "the company to watch in 2020 going into 2021"😅😝 another post!
I was looking at the covers for Black Tower Super Heroes and the idea of the cover featuring page 1 of a strip I thought was okay but there are inherent problems for me as the publisher and the technical problems involved. A snappy cover should draw in the attention of buyers but it should a;lso be strong and sturdy and protect the interior pages.
For all of my comics related books I opted for the best available paper -quite sturdy and does not tear easily (I speak from experience). Sadly the POD* would not accept using the interior stock for the cover which would have given it the feel of an old British weekly. Basically, everything is computerised and the printers used will not dedicate time to making changes required -it involves work.
So I was looking at the covers and decided that they needed more colour -to be more cheerful because we can do with more of that these days. But could I simply dump existing covers that I had put a lot of work into and produce new ones?
The good thing is that, as far as publishing and comics go I learnt the hard way that you need to chop and change not just art but stories and I once frustrated a certain person when they asked about a comic "What if such-and-such happens and you can't use that?" I told him the back-up plan and he then asked "And if that fails?" so I told him the third back-up. Seven times he asked "if that fails?" and each time I gave my back-up. On his eighth "What if-?" I simply responded that in that event I would retire from comics and move to Weston-Super-Mare.
You always have to have a plan ready and this means that you need to keep your mind open to making changes that are not 100% necessary. Those changes are made for the potential reader who has no idea what is going on he/she simply gets a good comic to read.
I looked at the file dates of the BTSH covers and they were from 2017 and I also found art from "possible" but rejected covers.
Looking at the cover to BTS H 5 it was dark and bleak. We need bright and colourful. So it is cast aside for the cover you see below (not the completely edited cover in this case).
In all honesty The Green Skies that was due to follow issue No. 8 of BTSH is needing to be totally re-scanned as the first 60pp are okay but the scanner and computer problems led to quality issues and it is a 500pp graphic novel...or was. More about that in another post next week.
But Captain Cosmic will be the cover star of Black Tower Super Heroes No. 5. No Bunny Warren. No Psychic Girl and definitely no Monkey Boy. "The other fella" has moved on.
* Print On Demand
I was looking at the covers for Black Tower Super Heroes and the idea of the cover featuring page 1 of a strip I thought was okay but there are inherent problems for me as the publisher and the technical problems involved. A snappy cover should draw in the attention of buyers but it should a;lso be strong and sturdy and protect the interior pages.
For all of my comics related books I opted for the best available paper -quite sturdy and does not tear easily (I speak from experience). Sadly the POD* would not accept using the interior stock for the cover which would have given it the feel of an old British weekly. Basically, everything is computerised and the printers used will not dedicate time to making changes required -it involves work.
So I was looking at the covers and decided that they needed more colour -to be more cheerful because we can do with more of that these days. But could I simply dump existing covers that I had put a lot of work into and produce new ones?
The good thing is that, as far as publishing and comics go I learnt the hard way that you need to chop and change not just art but stories and I once frustrated a certain person when they asked about a comic "What if such-and-such happens and you can't use that?" I told him the back-up plan and he then asked "And if that fails?" so I told him the third back-up. Seven times he asked "if that fails?" and each time I gave my back-up. On his eighth "What if-?" I simply responded that in that event I would retire from comics and move to Weston-Super-Mare.
You always have to have a plan ready and this means that you need to keep your mind open to making changes that are not 100% necessary. Those changes are made for the potential reader who has no idea what is going on he/she simply gets a good comic to read.
I looked at the file dates of the BTSH covers and they were from 2017 and I also found art from "possible" but rejected covers.
Looking at the cover to BTS H 5 it was dark and bleak. We need bright and colourful. So it is cast aside for the cover you see below (not the completely edited cover in this case).
But Captain Cosmic will be the cover star of Black Tower Super Heroes No. 5. No Bunny Warren. No Psychic Girl and definitely no Monkey Boy. "The other fella" has moved on.
* Print On Demand
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