How will comics covers evolve to stand out now, when the new release rack looks like this?



This is the new release section on Comixology, btw.

Buck Rogers, Geronimo and Girls stand out, everything else is a mess.

Dialogue balloons.

Hyperbolic captions.

Blinking lights.

It doesn't -- it's even more of a mess.

Right now, comics aren't an impulse buy so covers don't have to jump out at you anymore. If digital continues to take off, then they'll have to find a way to stand out on digital bookshelves. I imagine the digital bookshelves will adapt to spotlight the key publishers' books better as well.

In a digital format, I'm not sure a cover matters. I don't buy books from Amazon based on cover nor do I buy music from iTunes based on album cover. Not that I buy music from iTunes anyway...

Word of month and blogs will be increasingly important for indie stuff, but it will be recognizable characters/brands that continue maintain the highest level of sales.

Am I talking comics or music?

All I can think is that a similar offering of 60s/70s era comics would end up looking like an explosion in a primary color factory. The same sort of mess, but a brighter one.

I think the whole standing out thing has always been something of a problem. Companies follow trends and at any given time, your product will look remarkably like everything around it.

Back in the day (60s/70s), only the top 3rd of comics showed well on the spinner rack. Hence things like the Marvel Comics Group bar across the top of covers and the DC disco checks.

Covers were still important because there were no pull-lists. Everything was an impulse buy unless you subscribed through mail. You picked it up, flipped through it, and then bought it. Digital comics might be bringing that back - you don't commit to the buy until you've at least actually seen the cover (and maybe preview the insides?).

I wish comic books and their covers stopped sucking.

Well, at least Marvel and DC's general output. I think indie comics are stronger than ever.

I wish Marvel and DC comics and covers stopped sucking.

That reminds me, anyone got some good new indy series from the last couple of years to check out?

Genre labels will be important too. People will want options to go to a list of items of a type they want, so they don't have to browse through everything.

On http://www.imagecomics.com they have free full-length first issues of many of their series you can read online. Cheap, easy way to try their output.

Fell is pretty good.

Not the best Ellis, not by a longshot, but even OK Ellis is better than most comics.

Fell's in my top three Ellis (along with Transmetropolitan and Desolation Jones). The rest of his output doesn't come close to matching up to these three, IMO.

But Fell came out six years ago. What's new? What stood out in 2010?

Yes! This is probably the most important thing (next to interior previews and reader reviews).

Have you read any Terry Moore, Trevor? I'm not sure if that's your cup of tea, but his Echo finite series (wrapping up soon) is fantastic.

Doktor Sleepless is similar in tone and intent as Transmet.

Are there any current indie books that don't feature big name writers that are worth checking out? Haven't read it yet, but Chew comes to mind. Also, Cowboy Ninja Viking was fun for the 3 or so issues I bought it. May revisit in trade.

I've read vast amounts of Strangers In Paradise back in the day. I'm not up on Echo.

If you liked SiP and you like superheroey stuff, I can't see why you wouldn't like this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo_(comic_book)