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Dick Tracy rips off Charlie Brown?

I first saw this over at the Fantagraphics blog, but let’s review, shall we? Seth’s beautifully designed covers for The Complete Peanuts look like this:

peanutscover.jpg

The new Ashley Wood-designed covers for the new Dick Tracy compilation look, ahem, like this:

dicktracycover.jpg

Chris Butcher puts it best in his recent post:

…That grey box behind “Dailies and Sundays” and “Introduction by Max Collins”? That shit is inspired. All my shit is going to have grey boxes now.

popey1.jpgIt’s visual proof that winning design isn’t just about layout — it’s a deft mixture of layout, colour choice, typography, balance, contrast, and execution. I’ve never been a big Dick Tracy fan anyhow. If I’m buying a new chronological classic strip anthology in the coming days it’s going to be Popeye Vol. 1: “I Yam What I Yam” anyhow. I mean, as long we’re judging books by their covers, Popeye’s already a winner:

  • http://joshnichols.com/ MrBlank

    What the heck? Yeah, it’s pretty much the same style of cover, but come on! The format works for old comic strip collections. Look at more modern comic strip collections. They all have a full-bleed image on the front with a masthead. What about this blog? Looks a lot like a bunch of other 3-column WordPress blogs out there. A good design solution doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel every time — it just doesn’t win awards. A customer seeing that in a book store can tell exactly what kind of book that is just by glancing at it.

    The only thing I have a problem with is giving Ashley Wood a credit for it, but I suppose it’s because of his reputation and the fact that comic book geeks have a severe case of O.C.D. when it comes to collecting stuff their favorite creator does. It sells more copies.

  • http://joshnichols.com MrBlank

    What the heck? Yeah, it’s pretty much the same style of cover, but come on! The format works for old comic strip collections. Look at more modern comic strip collections. They all have a full-bleed image on the front with a masthead. What about this blog? Looks a lot like a bunch of other 3-column WordPress blogs out there. A good design solution doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel every time — it just doesn’t win awards. A customer seeing that in a book store can tell exactly what kind of book that is just by glancing at it.

    The only thing I have a problem with is giving Ashley Wood a credit for it, but I suppose it’s because of his reputation and the fact that comic book geeks have a severe case of O.C.D. when it comes to collecting stuff their favorite creator does. It sells more copies.

  • http://www.comx.ca/ tone

    I am just scared that they will flood the market with all these books and interest will disappear. I don’t think the Dick Tracy and Popeye books will take off like Peanuts. The Popeye reminds me of “Jack Cole and Plastic Man: Forms Stretched to Their Limits” by Art Spiegelman .

    Homage or rip-off, who knows. It’s what is inside that will sell in the end. Everybody wants to be the next Chip Kidd, I personally like the Seth stuff. Those concepts were already tried at Drawn and Quarterly before he did the Peanuts series. Seth’s stuff is all over the place lately. Kudos to him.

  • http://www.comx.ca tone

    I am just scared that they will flood the market with all these books and interest will disappear. I don’t think the Dick Tracy and Popeye books will take off like Peanuts. The Popeye reminds me of “Jack Cole and Plastic Man: Forms Stretched to Their Limits” by Art Spiegelman .

    Homage or rip-off, who knows. It’s what is inside that will sell in the end. Everybody wants to be the next Chip Kidd, I personally like the Seth stuff. Those concepts were already tried at Drawn and Quarterly before he did the Peanuts series. Seth’s stuff is all over the place lately. Kudos to him.

  • http://www.elwoodsmith.com/ Elwood

    Yup, you’re right, Tone, it’s that old Chip Kidd syndrome. Still, I’d rather see copies of Chip’s designs than of lesser graphic designers. I wonder if Chip is honored or pissed. I don’t mind when I see my work influencing other illustrators, but when it gets TOO close, I get all grumpy and out of sorts. Mostly because they get assignments (and the resulting checks) from younger art directors who think the copier is the originator of the style. Woe, oh, woe!

    -ES

  • http://www.elwoodsmith.com/ Elwood

    Yup, you’re right, Tone, it’s that old Chip Kidd syndrome. Still, I’d rather see copies of Chip’s designs than of lesser graphic designers. I wonder if Chip is honored or pissed. I don’t mind when I see my work influencing other illustrators, but when it gets TOO close, I get all grumpy and out of sorts. Mostly because they get assignments (and the resulting checks) from younger art directors who think the copier is the originator of the style. Woe, oh, woe!

    -ES

  • Blockhead

    The Dick Tracy book is also on lousy shiny paper. It’s no match for Peanuts.

  • Blockhead

    The Dick Tracy book is also on lousy shiny paper. It’s no match for Peanuts.

  • http://elnegromagnifico.blogspot.com El Negro Magnifico

    I’m bettin’ that Jacob Covey designed that Popeye book. He’s one talented dude.

  • http://elnegromagnifico.blogspot.com El Negro Magnifico

    I’m bettin’ that Jacob Covey designed that Popeye book. He’s one talented dude.