Redesign Superman #1
Posted by Bobby Solomon • March 8, 2010 • Comic Books + Design

At the end of February comic book writer and all around lunatic Warren Ellis asked the readers of his blog to redesign Superman as if it was being released today:

You are an artist/designer. You have to put together the cover for a comic called SUPERMAN. It is issue 1 of this book.

You have been told that Superman is a man who dresses predominantly in a shade of blue, and wears a red S symbol. You know nothing else about the character.

The cover must include a logo and the text THE COMPLETE STORY OF THE DARING EXPLOITS OF THE ONE AND ONLY SUPERMAN.

And that’s it.

It’s up to you what kind of company you’re at. What kind of comics you make. How you translate that description of Superman. What era you’re in. Who you are, even. Go nuts with it.

A lot of the entries were, well, kind of janky, but the cover above by the very talented Tom Muller definitely caught my eye. I’ve posted about Mr. Muller before and I’m sure this won’t be the last time. I love that he didn’t try to go with any kind of superhero motif, he simply made an awesome and interesting cover. If I saw this comic sitting on a shelf I would buy it in a heartbeat. This is exactly the reason why I always say that there needs to be more graphic design in comic books.

Bobby

1. [...] Chinese Whispers Uchronal Cover Remodel: Superman #1 (via Kitsune Noir) [...]

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2. so so bad ass. this is just so damn striking and powerful.

   i do think there has been a greater focus in graphic design for comic covers. especially with the design of logos, use of color & subject/communication matter. plus a greater appreciation for cover artists. i mean look at JAMES JEANS body of work for FABLES.

   Comment by jayson ramos — March 9, 2010 #



3. Muller has been doing some dress work for comic covers recently. He did the trade paperback dress for Vikings and also the upcoming Rise/Fall stuff for DC he is doing some of the cover design to collect all the various titles under the rise/fall umbrella.

   going through that messageboard topic you could usually tell from the top third of a cover design if it was worth waiting for it to load.

   Comment by Jeremy — March 9, 2010 #



4. Oh also Chip Kidd has been doing some good stuff for DC for awhile… he handled all the Final Crisis packaging.

   http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/cover-ups-chip-kidd/

   Comment by Jeremy — March 9, 2010 #



5. @Jeremy – Yeah, I’ve been following Muller and Kidd’s work for a while now. I think Kidd’s best was the Adventures of Superman, personally, and his Bat-Manga was pretty rad as well.

   Comment by Bobby — March 9, 2010 #

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