Cover Art: Angel: A Maximum Ride Novel - James Patterson

I have a dirty little secret. I enjoy James Patterson's YA series MAXIMUM RIDE, about a group of cross-bred, smart-ass teens with wings who are hunted by the shady folk who created them. They are quick, action packed, sometimes predictable reads that I treat as palate cleansers. When I just need to read something I know I'll enjoy, but doesn't require a lot of brain power. I read these little mindless popcorn action books.

That said, the cover art for them is just this side of ridiculous. I'm not kidding. It is probably the WORST assembled cover art for such a high profile author I have ever seen. There is literally NO thought involved and my niece could assemble a better collage of images and fonts.

Here is the cover for the 7th book in the series (the first 5 had differing names, then Patterson started naming each one after each of the main characters, starting with book 5 MAX, and book 6 FANG) titled ANGEL.

 

Is it bad? Why yes it is. The worst one so far of the new NAME titled ones. the MAX one was fairly innocuous and didn't bother me. It also didn't impress me, but that is besides the point. The second of those FANG was a litle worse, but still was sort of just a silhouette of Fang, so I let it slide. 

This one though is perfectly awful. 

Is that meant to be Angel herself there? I doubt it, cause she's supposed to be like 6 or 8....which leaves me to believe it is Max....but then why does Max grace the cover of Angel's book? Also, the marketing dept. decided that the rest of the cover should have a fadey tree, full moon and what I can only assume is once again Fang.

Sigh.

In a publishing world where Patterson is the second best selling author on the planet (after J.K. Rowling), doesn't his publisher feel that these covers deserve more than just fly-by-night design by some hack? I could design this exact same cover in Photoshop myself in MAYBE 2 hours tops. Seriously Little Brown & Co.? You are going to release cover art that could have been designed in two hours? How much did you pay the cover artist? It's awful. This series needs someone to save it from these covers.

To the Publisher: Look what the other YA novels that have had success look like (below), some of which are decidedly simple, but all are striking nonetheless. Just have a gander at these few and tell me these Patterson ones are up to snuff...

Upcoming: Sigma Book #7 The Devil Colony by James Rollins covert art & synopsis

 Could the founding of America be based on a fundamental lie, one coded in secrets that stretch back to before the birth of Christ, to a mystery buried in the prehistoric past? The truth lies hidden within the ruins of a cursed lost colony of the Americas. A place known only as: THE DEVIL COLONY. During a sweat lodge ceremony in an Indian cave in the Rocky Mountains, a horrible massacre ensues. Bodies are found blistered and burned and purposefully positioned to form two shapes: a five-pointed star and a sickle-shaped moon. One man recognizes the warning behind the gruesome murders: Painter Crowe, director of Sigma. He has seen these two symbols before and knows the deaths were a personal threat - one of the dead is his beloved cousin. From the frozen volcanic peaks of Iceland to the blistering deserts of the American Southwest, from the tombs of dead presidents to the gold vaults of Fort Knox, Painter Crowe joins forces with Commander Grayson Pierce and an unlikely ally - a woman who may have had a hand in the murders - to penetrate the shadowy heart of a dark cabal that has been manipulating American history since the founding of the thirteen colonies. But can he discover the truth - one that could topple governments - before it destroys all he holds dear? Including the woman he loves.


This is probably a bit old news, since this book was meant to come out in August, but I thought I'd post now considering the release date change.

It turns out that James Rollins publisher decided because of their tight release schedule (and I would also expect because they like to release his books in summer as thriller's seem to do very well with vacationing readers) to delay release till summer 2011.

I was pretty bloody excited about this one. I have been a flag-carrying Rollins fanboy for a number of years now. His Sigma series is probably my favourite thriller series and the last couple of books have upped the ante on the tension, thrills and fun. I had many a sleepless night reading those last few.

Basically, Rollins does what Dan Brown does but in all the areas where Brown fails, Rollins succeeds across the board. He makes smart, thrilling adventures that always concern more than one aspect of history and science and he weaves them together in a fashion that makes them nearly impossible to put down.

At any rate, the seventh Sigma book THE DEVIL COLONY is, like I said, due to drop in summer next year and I for one am really excited to get back to our stalwart Sigma operatives.

Art: Fables #100 Cover

There is just something about the amazing artists that DC Vertigo use for their cover art for Bill Willingham's  FABLES series. They are always gorgeous. Like high art gorgeous. Whether it was James Jean (who used to do the covers) or the current cover artist Joao Ruas or even forthcoming Cinderella mini-series cover artist Chrissie Zullo, they are always like the most amazing fairytale arthouse pieces.

Anyways, I love how completely simple the cover for the 100th issue is, and still really awesome.

Oh, you haven't read FABLES you say? Heretics! Nah, I'm just kidding, but seriously get out there and read one of the very best comic series of the last decade....heretics.

More you say?

Okey day. So here is the awesome Chrissie Zullo cover art from the forthcoming second CINDERELLA: FABLES ARE FOREVER mini-series, written by Chris Roberson hot on the heels of the first mini-series CINDERELLA: FROM FABLETOWN WITH LOVE written by Roberson also with cover art by Zullo. I can't wait to read this new one!