fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #5532 ]

[ SECRET POST #5532 ]

⌈ Secret Post #5532 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 35 secrets from Secret Submission Post #792.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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01. https://i.imgur.com/PrxTbSV.png

The artist is certainly making a choice there.

I don't really care for it either

That's an incredibly mainstream fandom opinion.

Is it really?

It certainly wasn't ten years ago. The Kirby covers were beloved by the Pratchett fandom.

I wonder if this is a US vs UK thing possibly...

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(Anonymous) - 2022-02-27 23:25 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2022-02-27 23:26 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2022-02-27 23:35 (UTC) - Expand

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tree_and_leaf - 2022-02-28 18:49 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2022-02-28 05:16 (UTC) - Expand

I mean, see the rest of the comments here...

I agree, anon. They put me off initially as well. Maybe it's because I had to endure being a woman in the early days of this fandom, but I've always hated these covers to the point where I actually felt embarrassed reading the books in public. They're garishly sexist and often have nothing to do with the descriptions from the books (Rincewind being portrayed as an elderly man, every single female character regardless of personality dressed in scraps of silk with their tits and ass pouring out, unless of course if they're over 40 in which case they're comically hideous). I guess they have a pulpy kitschy vibe, but to me it represents the worst era of fantasy and sci-fi, when the genre was dominated wall-to-wall by the thinly veiled masturbation fantasies of white middle aged men. Not sad to see Kirby go, tbh.

So much agreed.

That's untrue though. They have equial amount of almost naked hunk men in only loincloth. Also most of the covers feature scenes from the books with fully clothed characters. The only female characters over 40 on the covers are the two elder witches, and they are indeed old in the books.

Also the characters are rather small with ornate details aplenty so no one would actually see anything clearly if you read on a train, etc. At least I wouldn't be able to see the fine details.

SA
I wonder about Rinceeind as he was portraed as an old man in the movie that was made with TP's help.

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(Anonymous) - 2022-02-28 11:21 (UTC) - Expand

I agree, mostly. Kirby's cover art was definitely a vibe, and it's not a terrible match for Colour of Magic/Light Fantastic, but Discworld quickly grew out of being a basic parody of fantasy that the covers suited. I think Paul Kidby's work is a much better fit.

No, that's fair.

The artist was more famous than the author, when those were first coming out, and he def. gave them an eye-catching signature style. But the art is... a choice.

Yeah, they are well-crafted, but I don't like the style. Also, it doesn't suit books at all

I never liked that art style, but they were infinitely preferable to both the Science Fiction Book Club covers, which were just bad, and the boring clip-art covers on the 2000s American reissues which looked like they were trying to be Serious Literature or something, which were the only other ones available in the US for a long time.

ooo that is ugggggly.

You are not alone. I have always loathed these weird, squished, squat images. Totally hate.

Yeah, I'm team Kidby.

I don't really care for either artist.

They're fucking hideous. I am almost jealous of people who got into the book later because they get the nice Kidby covers and I'm stuck with a shelf full of grotesque bullshit.

SA

That said though, the covers did catch my eye all those years ago. I might never have picked up the series if the weirdo art didn't imply something comedic and different from all the other books on the shelf.

Yeah, this really isn't a rare opinion.

I agree, personally - those covers really put me off when I first saw them (I think the first one I saw was for one of the PC games), with the rather deformed and melty style. They *are* distinctive though, in a way that Paul Kidby's more accurate and aesthetically pleasing covers are not.

Yup. Never cared for his art.

I mentioned Discworld in a group conversation a couple years ago, and SEVERAL people mentioned that they had never read them because those covers were so off-putting, they had assumed that the books themselves would also be Like That.

The books do have strong elements of parody for sure, but I feel like they're also a lot more... sincere... than that type of cover art would indicate.

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