Book Cover Smackdown! ‘The Devil in Green’ vs. ‘Blood of Ambrose’ (French) vs. ‘Deadman’s Road’
By John DeNardo |
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010 at
11:29 am
Look at these beauties…
Your Mission (should you choose to accept it): Tell us which cover you like best and why.
Books shown here:
- The Devil in Green by Mark Chadbourn (Artist: John Picacio)
- Blood of Ambrose (French) by James Enge (Artist: Frédéric Perrin)
- Deadman’s Road by Joe R. Lansdale (Artist: Timothy Truman)
NOTE: Bigger, better cover art images are available by clicking the images or title links.
Related posts:
- Book Cover Smackdown! ‘The Shadow Rising’ vs. ‘A Game of Thrones’ (French)
- Book Cover Smackdown! Desolation Road vs. Leviathan (UK version)
- Book Cover Smackdown! ‘The Map of All Things’ vs. ‘The Judging Eye’ vs. ‘Blood of the Mantis’
- Book Cover Smackdown! Zoe’s Tale vs. Killswitch vs. Leviathan
- Book Cover Smackdown! Fear The Alien vs. Horns vs. Horus Heresy: Nemesis
Tagged with: Book Cover Smackdown
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The Devil in Green – Not sure, its eye grabbing but a bit garish for my tastes. If I saw it on display in a book shop I would probably dismiss the book without reading the back jacket.
Blood Ambrose – Looks interesting and if I was browsing with time to spare i would probably give the back cover a read, but its a bit to drab to grab my attention as something to check out.
Deadman’s Road – Curious, I would pick this up to find out more about it. Maybe because it has no author or title on the front but also because the picture itself is fairly cool. This is the best of the 3.
Deadman’s Road.I won’t be able to pass this one up if I see it at the book store.I’ve a certain soft spot for westerns.
I have just seen that that cover for Deadman’s Road is a limited edition cover, I wonder what the proper release will look like. I would hope they keep it the same.
I like the green color on The Devil in Green–it stands out the best, but the title and text seems crowded. It sticks out but not in a good way.
Blood Ambrose is too dull. Good title tho.
Deadman’s Road seems the best. Tim Truman is known to be an outstanding artist. The cover is still too gloomy and murky in the background and the sky . So, yeah, I think Deadman’s Rest is the best cover, but none of them are really good. I’d probably pass them all by in a bookstore or library.
I have to go with the Deadman’s Road cover despite the fact that it is vaguely reminiscent of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion hitchhikers. I’m drawn to it for much the same reasons that I like the Mexican Dia De Los Muertos skeleton drawings. It takes the subject of death which should be scary but presents it in a way that can’t help but make you laugh.
“Deadman’s Road”, hands down. When Truman gives you a cover, you know exactly what you’re getting in the book. This is also an interesting design idea…no title up front, just art. It would be interesting to see some publishers experiment with using stronger images and leave the title and credits to the spine and back cover.
Of course, according to their site, this is just the art, which means that the final release will likely have “Deadman’s Road” in 48 pt. Impact across the middle of the page.
RE: this is just the art
Great point. Not an apples-to-apples comparison. But I think they’re all great nonetheless.
I, too, would go with “Deadman’s Road.” That’s just a great, interesting cover that makes you wonder what the whole story is about.
“Deadman’s Road.” It says to me “I’m a Joe R. Lansdale book. Buy me or bad things will happen to you in the dead of night. Some may involve a drive-in gone berserk or post-apocalyptic zombies.” Plus it’s a Truman cover!
My eleven-year old daughter says the middle one is best, because “there’s no freaky face.”
The Devil in Green. Absolutely arresting.