Book Cover Smackdown! ‘A Pleasure to Burn’ vs. ‘Against All Things Ending’ vs. ‘Version 43′
By John DeNardo |
Thursday, May 6th, 2010 at
12:12 am
There’s a theme for this smackdown: book covers with figures on the cover.
Your Mission (should you choose to accept it): Tell us which cover you like best and why.
Books shown here:
- A Pleasure to Burn by Ray Bradbury (Artist: Joseph Mugnaini)
- Against All Things Ending by Stephen R. Donaldson (Artist: John Jude Palencar)
- Version 43 by Philip Palmer (Designer: Lauren Panepinto)
NOTE: Bigger, better cover art images are available by clicking the images or title links.
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- Book Cover Smackdown! Desolation Road vs. Leviathan (UK version)
- Book Cover Smackdown! The Great Bazaar vs. Hand of Isis vs. Finch
- Book Cover Smackdown! ‘Muse and Reverie’ vs. ‘Wings of Wrath’ vs. ‘Lesser Demons’
Tagged with: Book Cover Smackdown
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Definitely “A Pleasure to Burn” and not only b/c I love Bradbury. The cover just has that vintage Bradbury feel and I’m a fan of slightly tilted cover images. The boxy layout of most books, including the Donaldson, is boring to me.
I do hate to vote against Palencar; his art is stunning, but it’s hard to tell from the overall cover design. My vote definitely goes to “A Pleasure to Burn”. See how the title becomes part of the art, instead of fighting with it for attention? That’s good design. And so perfectly retro that it makes me expect to see the price at 60c.
“Version 43″ is kind of nice too….definitely reminds me the Ace Doubles, by way of “Team America”.
I am a huge Bradbury fan, but that had no effect on my decision that Pleasure to Burn is a clear winner. That Donaldson cover doesn’t stand out for me in any way and the Palmer cover, while I get it, just doesn’t work for me. The use of color and sloppy coloring in the Bradbury cover is stunning and evocative. Also, the newspaper man’s posture is both fitting and odd. Is he wiping sweat from his brow or shielding his face from the flames? Is he wiping inky tears away? I really dig the cover.