SDCC: COVER STORY: THE ART OF THE COVER
by HANNIBAL TABU (COMIC BOOK RESOURCES, AUGUST 11TH, 2014)
In one of Comic-Con International 2014’s final programming showcases, legendary writer Mark Evanier hooked his iPad up to the AV system as he sat down to discuss the art of making cover images with a quintet of artists. On hand alongside Evanier were Amanda Connor ("Harley Quinn"), Fiona Staples ("Saga"), Mark Brooks ("Deadpool," "Avengers"), Jae Lee ("Batman/Superman") and Stan Sakai ("Usagi Yojimbo").
Evanier asked which comes first, the cover or the script. Staples said that the covers are done far in advance of the scripts and that she then chooses a character based image that is appropriate for the story in question.
Sakai had a similar perspective. He said, "It's done months before the interior. I hate doing covers, I hate it with a passion. I detest doing covers. I've been doing covers with the same character for thirty years. It's hard to come up with something new. I don't know why I'm on this panel. Sometimes my writer, which is me, has no idea what's going to be in the issue. They demand cover images up to nine months in advance. After thirty years of drawing the same character, it's difficult to think of another pose."
Evanier had chosen a series of covers the artists did in the past so they could each give a kind of director's commentary.
Sakai was last up, first looking at the cover to "Usagi Yojimbo" #46, which was originally "a commission piece to do a kite festival. We also did a poster of this and it was used as two consecutive double page covers. If you connect the pages it keeps going around and round in rotation. Tom Luth is my colorist of choice, and is Sergio's colorist. We've known Tom for 35 years now. Whenever I need a color job, I always ask Tom. I give him very little direction unless it's cultural. It's always much better than I would have envisioned."
For "Furrlough" #50, Sakai said he "doesn't like the coloring. I would have preferred more flat colors instead of so much shading. When I do these covers for another publisher, I'm on my own. I did 'Rocket Raccoon,' and I asked, 'Can I do a dinosaur?' And they said, 'Sure.' The only criticism was 'Make the gun bigger.'"
Looking at the cover of "The Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters Massacre the Japanese Invasion” #1, Sakai said, "This was strictly a job for the money." Evanier replied, "I worked for Eclipse, I don't recall any money."
The cover of "Usagi Yojimbo” #101 featured a riff on how skulls appear over the head of people who died, as noted by one fan. "I drew as many as possible," Sakai said of the image, "He didn't write in. There's no big logo on the cover, I like this. Usagi by this time is pretty iconic. Tom did an excellent job at this."
Finally, they looked at "Donald Duck Adventures" #32, and Sakai said, "I hate working for Disney. I had to draw his head so many times. My mistake was following the European Donald, which I really like. In this story, Donald and his nephews go to Japan. I'm not credited on the cover, it's an inside joke that I'm doing this for them."
