NJOE (via) was first to spot that Random House’s summer catalog has gone up for public consumption – and in it is an early cover for the Heir to the Empire 20th Anniversary Edition on page 75.
Cover art that appears in the catalogs tends be very preliminary, so it’s hard to say if the final will look anything like this. But you know what? I don’t mind it. And if they do it in foil, it’ll stand out nicely from the crowd. Granted, I loath the original, so your mileage may vary.
The catalog also contains a listing for Choices of One (page 79,) but I’m not seeing anything new there. But also appearing with a preliminary cover is Jason Fry’s The Essential Guide to Warfare (page 89.)
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10 responses so far ↓
1 Austin // Dec 17, 2010 at 12:37 pm
I have no problem with this cover, and foil would be nice – but this isn’t what I was expecting at all.
2 Doyle // Dec 17, 2010 at 12:51 pm
I agree that this cover could be quite nice. I mean, ideally, they’d do something like get Drew Struzan to do a more detailed and embellished take on the original art, but as long as it’s a solid, well constructed new edition I’ll be happy with whatever it actually looks like.
3 Amaranthine // Dec 17, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Sleek.
But very un-Heir to the Empire-ish.
And actually un-Star Wars-ish, for that matter.
And I thought the FOTJ covers were modernized…..but seriously, we need some new cover art!
I can almost be certain no one is using this art as their Facebook profile picture.
4 Scoke // Dec 17, 2010 at 2:45 pm
They should fire all the current cover artists and hire the ones that did the Japanese NJO/etc covers.
5 Dunc // Dec 17, 2010 at 2:55 pm
I like ‘real’ art too, but the intention of this kind of thing (and FOTJ) is to have something that stands out from the other dozens and dozens of Star Wars books. (They do get pretty redundant after a while, particularly when you’re dealing with the core characters. And I say this as a very visual and cover-oriented person.) It’s marketing, and it’s smart marketing. You don’t want a cover that easily fades into the massive backlist.
They could do both, of course. Something like this as the jacket, with a more arty take on the actual binding. (Think the slipcovered bios that Scholastic was doing.)
6 Amaranthine // Dec 17, 2010 at 4:24 pm
Yes, this cover(if used) would certainly help dispel the “cheap, mass-market, obscure authors and artist” stereotype that sometimes surrounds Star Wars books. And it would look good on a display table.
7 carlalute // Dec 17, 2010 at 8:28 pm
It’s okay but doesn’t really sing to me.
8 Blu // Dec 18, 2010 at 2:38 am
But ZOMG! What will I do without Jorus C’baoth’s six-pack abs?
In all honesty, this is simple, sleek and modern. Very nice!
9 eliz // Dec 18, 2010 at 8:05 pm
I love that it is different and I think the foil idea would be great– I just want to get my hands on the new additions!
One of my favorite books, but definitely the one I owe the most too- if it hadn’t happened — I don’t even want to consider that!
10 Chris (The Exalted) // Dec 20, 2010 at 3:44 am
I like the idea, its very Imperial. They should give the cover and binding job to me, i’d design them the best cover they’d ever see ha ha.
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