Thursday, July 26, 2012

Cover Snark: Covers That Do it Right

We spend a lot cover snarks complaining about bad covers out there - and all of the many terrible tropes we see over and over again. Well with all the drama around, let’s take a break and grab some of the shiny covers out there that we love. Let’s look at some covers we have no problems with, covers that are a joy to look at.



Well, the first, and easiest way to avoid all of the problems on the covers is to go for something abstract, with no humans at all to have their spines twisted, in ridiculous shoes with lots of skin. Of course, it’s hard to create a compelling cover without a person - but these do a remarkable job






A second attempt is to have a man on the cover. Not a perfect solution because there’s a lot of man titteh out there, but usually you can avoid the broken spines, crouching and high heels


Thankfully, there is hope - you can have a woman on the cover and it still be beautiful and compelling without the spine wrenching, ankle twisting, squatting, boob showing, tight leather clad ass lifting we know and loathe (and yes, praising the covers is the only positive thing I ever have to say about the Fallen series, alas). It’s actually kind of horrifying how many DOZENS of covers with a woman on them I had to flick through to find a few that were compelling and lacked the tropes

So, readers, what about you? What covers do you think manage it - missing the tropes while still being compelling