Friday 25 February 2011

Teamwork

If you saw the unveiling of the hardback front cover on Facebook this week and you're particularly eagle-eyed, you may be wondering why it only has my and Leo's names over the title. Are we doing a Trotsky on our colleagues Nikos and Martin? Have we become airbrush historians? Did power and money go to our heads? (I wish.)

Fact is, the full credits are prominent enough inside the book but there is only so much room on the cover itself, and the house style of our publishers, Print Media Productions, is to put the writer and artist up there above the marquee. No-one is more aware than I am that a comic like ours is a team effort - no preening auteur, I - so although I'm very proud of that cover, and I can't wait to see it on the counter of my local comic store, it does give me a twinge of guilt too.

Well, to redress the balance and share the credit around where it is due, here is one of the alternate issue covers that will accompany Mirabilis's debut on digital platforms Graphic.ly and Comics+. Oh wait, is that news to you? I see another post coming on...

4 comments:

  1. Orrgh!! This is better than being a kid at Christmas. I want it on the counter of my favourite comic shop too (Okay Comics, Leeds).

    Are both books being released simultaneously or are you doing a Harry Potter Part 1, part 2 to follow?

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  2. Hi John, just tell the Okay Comics guys to use Diamond order number FEB111949. You won't have wait as long as for Deathly Hallows part 2 either, as the second Mirabilis book will be out in April.

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  3. I've got to say I love this cover so much. There's a truly fascinating multi-layered aspect to the whole Mirabilis creative process, which digital media is so well equipped to bring to readers.

    Still looking forward to "The Art of Mirabilis" super tome though...

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  4. I agree about that cover, Peter. Martin can take one image and turn it into a whole story - and there you have all the mixed reactions of Edwardian society to fantasy: the elegant lady retreating sniffily into the cold sterile shadows of the church, the chap outside struggling by almost apologetically, the vicar alarmed but still trying to be welcoming even in the face of Pan who does after all look rather like you-know-who. And the whole question of what happens when the true unfettered hugeness of human imagination and belief is confronted with the narrow porch that is all organized religion will allow in. Gosh, it's really a genuine work of art!

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