Comic Book Junction

Sven Larsen writes in the From Bogota With Love blog a fascinating two-part post on what the “gimmick cover” phenomenon can teach us about design. First, Larsen gives us an insider’s view of the decision process that went on inside Marvel in the early 1990s in the creation of the multiple/variant/gimmick cover.

The black-and-silver cover variant for “Spider-Man” #1 was originally meant as a “thank-you” to the retailers — a collector’s treat that only could be aquired in the direct market. A huge success, the next step was for Marvel to analyze why exactly the alternate cover sold so well. as it:

1. Simply because the comic’s writer/artist, Todd McFarlane, was so immensely popular?

2. Because Spider-Man was so popular a character?

3. Or was the new design element — black-on-silver — the crucial factor?

To find this out, Larsen writes that Marvel toyed around with a special “gimmick” cover — this time, for “The Incredible Hulk” #377. The cover for said issue was produced in a stark black over day-glo green, with a day-glo pink logo. At the time, “Hulk” was in a sales slump. With the introduction of the day-glo cover, sales went up 300%.

Larsen (who used to work at Marvel) explains:

“We had brainstormed a feature change in our core product (the SPIDER-MAN variants), analyzed metrics to measure market success (our comic book sales figures) and tested another, similar feature change (the HULK cover). We now knew that this new design element was something our end users would respond to.”

Larsen concludes in his second post that what in one sense might be interpreted as simply gimmicks to increase sales, provided Marvel with valuable insights in effective design and market research to boot. Because of the relatively low print runs of the variant covers, less money was invested and there was more room to experiment. Lastly, these “experiments” led to the discovery and utilization of new printing technologies: metallic inks, foil embossing, and even glow-in-the-dark cover effects.

“I hold a special place in my heart for those early books and for the lessons that their creation taught me. They’re lessons that I use every day in my current position at Zemoga and they’re lessons every designer and developer should take to heart. I guess I owe a lot of my digital design education to a guy who “spins a web any size”. Thanks again, Spidey!”