Wednesday 9 September 2020

Swords of Cerebus In Hell?- The Cover mock-ups

Benjamin Hobbs:

Here's Dave's original description for SWORDS OF CEREBUS IN HELL?:


 David Birdsong made this mock-up for the cover of volume 1:

I suggested that the front cover should feature the highest selling issue or most interesting cover. Further, I suggested the title of the volume should be the title of a Garfield book:


The last I heard from Dave, he wants the four issues that are in the volume on the front cover, and the back cover is to be an ad for the next months volume. Which would look something like this:

Do YOU have a better suggestion for the cover? Let us know in the comments!

Next Week: More FUN with covers!

11 comments:

Dan E. said...

I think the closer to the original Swords you get, the better.
For me, that means some sort of annotations by Dave. I know that he's said, "Don't bother buying if you already have the singles," but that's the reason I keep Swords of Cerebus in my collection instead of the first phonebook.

Michael R. said...

I agree with Dan. I ALWAYS had my Swords books and never had the first volume of Cerebus. The more Dave info and explanations about the books are better. Then it might get me to purchase Swords In Hell? books.

Also, I'm not the fan of having only 4 issues at a time. A big fat phone book on CHEAP newsprint paper will do for me. If you wanted to get the better grade paper, then you should have got the CIH? at your LCS.

Anonymous said...


I like the 4 covers front/back idea. I also like the flames background. However, to differentiate each volume, I'd change the "Swords..." and flames colors to match the cover arrangement. For example, in the mockup for the Vark Thing/House/Silve/Varking dead, some sort of dark purple/green combo for the logo, then dark purple flames. For the Green/VarkWars/Attractive/Amicable, it would be red/white logo with white flames.

Also, maybe keep the flames continuing, so that if you put each "Swords" issue next to each other, they line up - kinda like the Last Day covers.

Regards, JV

Brian West said...

This seems more complicated a suggestion then it’s probably worth but maybe incorporating some of the supporting characters from Hell? like Dante, Virgil, Frances, and Jingles onto the cover could add that bonus material for new readers. I mean, keep the logo however you and the rest of the crew want but perhaps put a strip on the cover? Would draw a neophytes interest, I think and might emphasize fact that it’s not just Cerebus in Hell?

Anonymous said...

Wait a minute... $25 per volume that only contains FOUR issues? That’s $6.25 per issue! For that cost, each book should include a whole years worth of material. Good luck to Dave selling these. I won’t be buying them.

Bob.

Jeff said...

For once, I can think of nothing to add to these comments.

Well, except that: For US$25, there had better be extras. But from many prior packages from Dave, I know that there's always extras.

Count me in. But you already knew that, right?

Anonymous said...

Oh and... shouldn't the issues start with the CIH? #0 ?

Regards,
JV

Brian West said...

JV, I would suggest checking the previous edition of CEREBUS AND HOBBS. In the comments thread for that post D. Birdsong explains where CIH? #0 falls in the scheme of things.

Anonymous said...

Dave the marketing genius comes up with the idea to tell people specifically not to buy his work. Great idea. Let's see how that works.

Anonymous said...

Anon poster above, Dave was just saying there will be no new material in the Swords volumes, hence if you bought the original issues, you already have everything. No need to get stupid about it. Talking of genius, indeed...

Brian West, thanks for referring me to the previous edition of CEREBUS AND HOBBS for answer to my question about CIH? #0 - for those interested, Dave apparently will periodically reprint it.

Regards,
JV

Brian West said...

You’re welcome, JV. Happy to be of service!