Friday Face-Off: Exploding Golden Fools….or Clowns

The Friday Face-Off is a bookish meme hosted by Books by Proxy that compares book covers to decide which is best.

I’ve been behind on these posts lately due to lack of time to draft them so I’m trying something new by writing them up before Friday. I’m writing this on Monday. See, improvement! Well, since I’ve missed two Fridays, I’ll catch up with them here.

June 3 theme:

In The Beginning There Was Nothing, Which Exploded

A cover which features an explosion

Sounds easy, right? But unfortunately, I don’t own a book that has a cover with an explosion on it. The slight exception is the cover of the comic below, Harbinger, Vol. 2; but that might not be an explosion. It could be a barrier. But for the purpose of this theme, I’ll keep on thinking it’s an explosion.

I actually don’t know anything about the Harbinger comics. I came across it because I’m interested in Faith, which I’m intrigued by because it features a female superhero who is fat, which is very different from superheroines (not a word but I like it) we usually see who are always skinny. Faith started out in the Harbinger series. Below, I’ll compare volumes one and two of the Harbinger series. Let’s get to the

FACE-OFF!

Now that I’ve looked closer at the cover of volume 2, I realize that the half-sphere is a barrier to an attack. Both covers convey that the humans have superpowers. From the cover of volume 1, I get the impression that the guy is telepathic and can hear the thoughts of others, hence all those conversation bubbles. I like that the people around him are in dull colors whereas he is in bright colors to stand out. The cover artist for this volume is Arturo Lozzi.

The cover of volume 2 was done by Mico Suayan and it features more action. Obviously things have escalated since volume 1 and the cover of volume 2 makes you want to find out quickly just what has happened (well, I feel so). We see Faith flying along with two other guys fighting an unseen threat that has shot an electric blast at them, which the dude in the middle has repelled with his shiny half-sphere shield. The colors are dark and unappealing to me so it’s the action, the characters’ expressions, and the flying rocks that grab my interest. So, which do I think is better?

WINNER!

I love excitement so Suayan’s cover wins. I really like the expression of the little dude, maybe it’s a girl, in the lower left. I think he’s shouting “Yaaahh!! Take that asshole!” I’ll find out when I read the comic. The cover of volume 1 was good too. I like how subtle it is but for me, action almost always wins.

June 10 theme:

All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter

A cover which features gold

This one is easy! 😀 I’ve decided to go with a book by an author who I’ve just started reading and am enjoying: Robin Hobb. I just read Assassin’s Apprentice and enjoyed it so much that I had to return to the bookstore and grab the next two books in the Farseer Trilogy. For this face-off, I’ve chosen the first book in The Fitz and the Fool trilogy: Fool’s Assassin.

FACE-OFF!

U.S. cover

Two beautiful covers. The one on the left is the U.S. cover, which was designed by Alejandro Colucci. The artstyle is the same as those for the U.S. covers of the Farseer Trilogy, so I believe he designed those as well. I really like his work and I especially love the background in his cover designs for Hobb’s books. The figures are done well too (though I didn’t much like the figure on Assassin’s Apprentice).

The cover on the right is the U.K. cover and it was designed by Jackie Morris. I love her designs! Her designs for Hobb’s books seem simple because the main feature is the typography, which Morris does well. For this cover, she includes small illustrations that relate to the story. The cover doesn’t seem like much on screen because its magnificence is in the gold-leaf that is applied to the cover, which you can only see when light bounces off it. So I’ll include a video here that features that:

So obviously this is the

WINNER!

I just love the gold-leaf finish. If I enjoy all the Farseer books, then I’ll collect Hobb’s other books in the U.S. edition but will get The Fitz and the Fool books in the U.K. edition because Fool’s Assassin is gorgeous.

June 17 theme:

Better A Witty Fool Than A Foolish Wit

A cover which features a fool or jester

Soo…. I couldn’t think of a book cover that features either of those so I decided to go with a clown because a clown can be both a fool and a jester…right? Anyways, I chose It by Stephen King, which I haven’t read but have watched, and it scared me shitless. Here’s a three-way

FACE-OFF!

It has been out for so long and is so popular that there are many covers for it. I liked these three the most of the bunch. The cover in the middle was published in Spain. The cover on the right is the most classic. It reminds me of the horror book covers I saw when I was a kid. But the cover on the left matches the minimalist style that is prevalent these days. The middle cover is pretty cool with the blood splats to indicate hair or even horns, which would give the clown that’s hinted at a devilish look. Here’s my

WINNER!

I prefer the classic look. The minimalist style is appealing, but this cover creeps me out the most. Besides, without the eyes on the cover on the left, that smile seems almost cheery, just with sharp teeth. And while the cover in the middle has eyes, I just get the impression that the clown is very upset. The full head on the third cover with the black background makes the cover creepy. I just wish the eyes weren’t so white. They look odd.

What were your picks?

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