Saturday, October 02, 2010

Same Story, Different Cover: Looks more like early afternoon to me

Chamber of Darkness #7/Giant-Size Chillers #3

L: Chamber of Darkness #7 (October 1970), art by Bernie Wrightson
R: Giant-Size Chillers #3 (August 1975), reprinting "Night of the Werewolf" from Chamber of Darkness #7,
art by Bernie Wrightson (again)

(Click picture to hunkypunk-size)



Posted by Bully at 9:00 PM
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2 comments:

John Rozum said...

I have a bunch of the Marvel monster comics where they did this and the monster would get a make-over on the cover. In this case I definitely prefer the gargoyle on the cover of Chamber of Darkness even though Giant-Size Chillers has a more dynamic cover.

10/02/2010 1:53 PM
Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

Ah, now this is the kind of comparsion I like. Two covers, same artist. Now, no one can accuse me of playing favorites!

Chamber of Darkness #7

The Gargoyle dominants this composition. He's large and in charge, which makes his victim seem almost incidental.

Great job on the anatomy of the monster with the long limbs. The shadows on his side perfectly communicate that he has his arm outstretched and provides a good sense of depth.

The lizard head and tail scream inhuman, though the magma orange skin feels unnaturally bright and out of sorts with a "creature of the night" (then again I may be associating this gargoyles habits too much with the Disney cartoon "Gargoyles") but the color does catch your attention right away so it works in its own way.

Giant-Size Chillers #3

This gargoyle looks and feels more like a guy in a mask with a human head and fairly average anatomy. What the monster lacks in design the cover makes up for in composition. The kidnapped girl, the height of the tower and the villagers with torches are all well balanced and spaced allowing us to show more "risk" to our story.

Giant Size Chillers would be my first choice to buy, but it wins by a hair in the end.

11/24/2011 9:08 PM

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