Jan 06 2009
No alcohol was involved in the conception of these covers
Superhero Nation is slightly eccentric and wacky, so I kind of want an eye-catching cover that conveys that. Here are a few of my latest ideas for our first cover.
1. This cover shows a desk with a careful array of US presidential bobbleheads. (It’s Agent Orange’s desk, so this should look a bit wacky). At the front of the desk would be bobbleheads of Agent Black, Agent Orange and their boss. In the background, we’d place a motivational poster for humorous flavor. (Maybe “Human Resources: Killer Service Every Time.”)
ALTERNATIVE: The desk still has presidential bobbleheads, but the bobbleheads of the cast are gone. Agent Orange is behind the desk in a surly boss pose and Agent Black is staring at him dumbfounded. As before, there’s a motivational poster for humor. (Hat-tip to Brett).
2. Agent Black is getting chewed out in an over-the-top manner by Agent Orange. I’d probably frame it like a scene between Peter Parker and JJ Jameson. I’m relying on the “what the hell?” factor of having a mutant alligator as the boss to make this eye-catching and appealing. I’d probably give Agent Orange a business prop like a wacky chart or graph in lieu of the motivational poster.
3. Agent Black is in a mock Rambo pose, ineptly wielding a machine gun on a firing range. All of his bullets are wildly off his target. (The bulletholes may spell out the Superhero Nation logo). Agent Orange is looking on exasperatedly with a hand on his forehead. He’s shaking his head. This is probably better-suited for the second issue than the first.
I like them all, but I think the latter two are better than the first.
If the last one is better suited for the second, I’d use it then, and probably #2 for the current issue. I like both of those. I think #1 could also work, but it needs a little tweaking. I think we should see the characters themselves instead of representations. You could put other odd things of Agent Orange’s on the desk.
Ahh, that’s a good point about seeing the characters rather than representations.
If you want to use the first idea, you’d only need a simple change. Have Agent Orange sitting at the desk, grinning like a madman! That way, when we wonder who this odd assortment of accessories belongs to, we will immediately see that the owner is much stranger than his…collection.
Does Agent Orange have any type of superpowers. I’m guessing durability, strength, claws, and stink breath.
Hmm, that’s a good idea, Brett. However, as a minor tweak, since Agent Orange is a secondary character to Agent Black, I’d probably have something like Agent Black staring on in mystery as Orange sits at his bobblehead-loaded desk.
As for Agent Orange’s superpowers, we’re going to keep it fairly generic. Strength, durability, claws and above-average smell and sight. If we need something exotic, we may add acid saliva. Also, we might try wall-crawling, which is typical of some lizards but not alligators (although they try).