What you are looking at, friends, is the cover to my upcoming book, Comic Book Fanthropology. The illustration and design work was done by Colin Panetta and let me tell you that I think he did a phenomenal job on this! Before I went out in search of a cover artist, I came up with the basic idea of the four figures walking along, a la Rudy Zallinger's "March of Progress." I didn't want to signify an evolution per se, but it's an image that's indelibly tied to anthropology like no other. (I briefly considered an Indiana Jones riff, but discarded it because it's exclusivity to the past and the implication that fandom is dead.) To counter the evolutionary aspect, I specifically was looking to show a diverse group of people in terms of gender and race. Which coincidentally also plays into the approach I'm taking with the book, trying to pull in diverse ideas and examples beyond the typically U.S.-centered ones most authors here in the States use.
I explained my idea to Colin, and he sketched out an idea that pretty well hit the nail on the head right away. I asked for some changes, but he picked up where I was going every time and was able to hone in pretty quickly on what I was aiming for.
I also want to say that Colin really stepped up to the plate several times when he didn't need to. If I showed the slightest hesitation on anything, he jumped in and basically said, "No worries; I'll take care of it." And then he did.
This was actually the first time I've ever commissioned artwork for myself, and Colin did everything he could to ensure that I got exactly what I wanted. So I have to say that I'm very pleased with the whole process and especially the end result. I hadn't planned on renting booths at shows to sell my book, but I'm half-tempted to just so I have an excuse to blow up his illustrations really large and put them on posters and banners!
While I'm talking about Colin, I'll also put in a quick plug for his next issue of Dead Man Holiday which is due out at the end of the year as part of Indy Comic Book Week. Ask your local retailer about it!
One more thing: if you click on the art to get a larger view of the cover, you might notice a bit of extra text at the bottom of the image. That's not just a placeholder; Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort IS indeed writing a Foreward for my book!
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