So how do the rest of you come down on this contrast? Which cover best catches your eye? Let us know in the Comments section below.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Which “Bang” for Your Bucks?
It’s usually Euro Crime blogger Karen Meek who compares cover treatments from both sides of the Atlantic, and asks readers which would most entice them to pick up the book. But I’m going to steal that idea for a moment, because I was struck by how differently U.S. publisher Mariner Books and UK publisher Quercus have dealt with the fronts of their respective paperback editions of The Big Bang, which Mickey Spillane left behind at the time of his death, and Max Allan Collins finished for him last year. The U.S. cover (left) is clearly comic-booky, while the UK front (right) is--to my mind, anyway--the sexier and cooler of the pair.
So how do the rest of you come down on this contrast? Which cover best catches your eye? Let us know in the Comments section below.
So how do the rest of you come down on this contrast? Which cover best catches your eye? Let us know in the Comments section below.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
The title does not refer to a gunshot; it refers to a massive incoming shipment of dope, headed towards a drug-starved New York City knee-deep in jonesing addicts. The cover on the right at least includes NYC in the cover.
I prefer the one on the left, but don't know hosw it reflects the books content!
I don't know why but 9 times out of 10 the Brits come out with the better cover. This one is no exception. The back view of the 'dame' is a quintessential part of the hardboiled crime cover and, come on, it's Mickey Spillane!
The right-hand cover is head and shoulders above the other. As Unkletom said, "it's Mickey Spillane!"
Bob Tinsley
You are right, the UK cover is clearly superior.
The American cover puts almost equal emphasis on Spillane and Collins. The British version clearly emphasizes Spillane. I'm not fond of either cover, but then I'm often not fond of my own.
Ron
Most of the responses I get to my "cover opinions" posts express a preference for the UK covers too!
The British cover had more though put into it and looks more like the old covers I remember.
As the co-author, I find both too comic-booky for my taste...indicating a general lack of seriousness in how the publishers view Spillane and Hammer. If you want to see how to put a cover on a Spillane book, check out our forthcoming THE CONSUMMATA at Hard Case Crime (thanks, Charles Ardai). As for my byline in Britain, they are in violation of contract -- it's supposed to be names of equal size, and it's "and" not "with." Apparently they think way over here in the Colonies, we'll never see it....
Incidentally, there was a huge battle over the hardcover edition, which originally had (wait for it) a pink cover. Basically the same, but pink, I tell you. Pink.
Pink? Oh my. Maybe they used the publisher's six year old daughter as the art director. Come to think of it, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised.
Post a Comment