The cover is eye-catching and encourages us to buy the title. What if it hides secrets that we do not notice at the first contact?
Arouse your curiosity!
Artists from the Land of the Rising Sun are talented artists who can surprise readers with their ideas. One of the most interesting, but quite rare, manga treatment is the use of covers as places for additional content or graphics. However, more often you can come across positions that do not hide any secrets. For example, Berserk is not surprising in this respect. When we remove the dust jacket, we will see the same scene, albeit in black and white. At this point, I could list a whole lot of other manga, but let’s move on to a more interesting example – the Green Blood comic. It is best to look at the first volume, on the cover of which we will see the main character with a raised revolver. However, when we take off the dust jacket, we get a completely different scene, stretched across the spine to the back of the binding. It is a frame taken straight from the comic book, but in full splendor this scene looks much better than the picture in the middle of the manga or the one on the dust jacket. In my opinion, it is a very pleasant procedure, encouraging you to pay attention to such small details. Because sometimes you can find pearls.
The dust jacket hides many a secret!
Mangacas often turn out to be so prolific authors that they lack space to place interesting accessories. Of course, it is not worth shortening the main story for them, but on the other hand, why would they give up original ideas? Kohta Hirano in Drifters has created a unique, amazing world. The action of the comic rushes at breakneck speed. The author, however, has a specific sense of humor and only a few pages set aside for deputies, it would be a bit too little for him.
We can see the warriors on the dust jacket and we know immediately that in this manga the blood will flow in streams. Meanwhile, when we take it off, we will see a humorous scene with the protagonists in the lead role for a change. They have nothing to do with the plot, because even in the second volume we can see Oda Nobunaga writing his blog. A sixteenth-century samurai, and a genius strategist, is playing with a laptop! However, when we read the manga and close it, we will see a galaxy of “potential drifters”. It is on the cover that the author reveals who he could introduce to the plot in the next volume. Of course, there are humorous elements in the story itself, but in fact it is the afterword and secrets hidden behind the dust jacket that clearly make us aware of Kohta Hirano’s sense of humor.
Yousuke Murata, the king of manga covers!
One-punch man is a series that is a big surprise. Drifters can also surprise, but Kohta Hirano sticks to a certain framework. We know that in the front under the dust jacket we will see some funny scene, as well as characters that can find their way into his amazing universe. Yousuke Murata, on the other hand, often serves something different. Whenever I start reading a new volume, I first carefully examine the cover. I even check what mini-scene the author placed on the spine of the volume. But getting to the point, what remarkable ideas did Yousuke Murata have?
In the third volume, we have a “spread”. The dust jacket and the cover form a portrait of one of the main antagonists – Bald in a cape (the author also uses the same idea in volumes 19-21, which together form one image). There is no doubt that this is an interesting procedure, although weaving the comic into the binding in the seventh volume seems even better. There are several frames on the dust jacket and cover, introducing us to the history. Before we delve into the main plot, we should read what is placed on the cover. Sometimes this extra cover comic can tell us the story of a superhero. For example, in volume 11, for example, we get to know the Metal Stick better, and more specifically what his relationship with his younger sister looks like.
The author is also able to creatively use the wings of the dust jacket, for example by transforming them into doors with secrets behind them (this solution makes its debut in the fifteenth volume). Thanks to this, we can find out, among other things, how Sonik arranged his toilet. And funnily enough, it even makes a fictional sense. Of course, we are not always dealing with experiments, sometimes they are just funny scenes with the participation of Łysy in a cape and other superheroes.
When there are no cards and a lot of ideas
Finally, I would like to point out that there will always be some black sheep . For example, under the dust jacket of Dororo and Hyakkimaru, we only have the title on a pink background. There is no need, however, to focus on accidents at work and it is better to summarize everything positively. The creators from the Land of the Rising Sun have a lot of ideas and can even cope with the lack of space. The extras pressed on the wraps are a pleasant diversion, because discovering these secrets can be surprising. I hope there will be more creative proposals in the future.
And you, dear readers, do you know any examples of creative use of comic book covers?
