The HP Cover Comparison

Recently, the new 15th anniversary covers of the Scholastic U.S. Harry Potter books has been making the news. And so I thought I would put up some side-by-side comparisons of the original Mary Grand Pre art with the new art by Kazu Kibuishi.

Year 1: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

 

The original U.S. cover for Sorcerer's Stone is not one of my favorites Harry looks very much like a dork here. And while that is appropriate to the conditions that he finds himself in, the sneakers and the glasses slipping down his face conspire to make him look like someone out of the 1950s. Plus, the school robe is billowing out behind him too much like a cape. In general, this cover suffers from a problem that several of the early HP covers had. There is too much disparate action going on. The 3-headed dog underneath the castle and the unicorn running by and the distracting diamond banner and the colonnades all combine to throw too much at you at once. (To be fair, the full wrap-around image balances things out a bit better and throws some pretty dramatic Dumbledore action your way.)

In contrast, the new Sorcerer's Stone cover does a much better job of throwing lots of details at you, but doing so in a coherent way that helps you understand the story--or at least this particular moment. And that is what makes this style better (for now). The new cover focuses on a moment in time and gives you all those details of that moment. The Grand Pre cover threw lots of stuff across the book together on a messy sort of montage.

Winner: Kazu

Year 2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

This Grand Pre is less cluttered that its predecessor and does a better job of focusing on an event and telling that particular story. (And though this front only view doesn't show it, the full wrap-around dust jacket image shows who's clutching Harry's ankle as Fawkes flies them out of the Chamber of Secrets.
So . . . all in all, a better effort. BUT, Harry still looks like he just stumbled out of a crew meeting on early 80s Bill Murray vehicle Meatballs.
Again, the Kibuishi image is a strong one, vibrant with color and focused on a moment. You can see Ron and Harry peeking out of the back of the Ford Anglia and any picture that takes the time to devote itself to The Burrow is going to win me over.

Winner: Kazu . . . but it's closer than you think.

Year 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

 

The improvements that were made in Chamber of Secrets seem to have slipped back a step or two in the original art. I'm not suggesting that the image is too overwhelming, because it isn't. But the figure shapes have simply always bothered me. The hippogriff just doesn't seem right--and that is saying something for a creature that combines the torso and hind quarters of a horse with the head, wings, and (paws?) of an . . . eagle?

So maybe Grand Pre is kind of doomed from the start. But also, Harry look excessively cartoonish here. His legs are weird and he looks chubby and distorted. And while we don't get to see much of Hermione here, she's not looking that great either. (The full image maybe makes things more coherent, but still not a favorite of mine.) 

The new Kazu Kibuishi image is much, much stronger. Talk about drama! But I do have two quibbles. I feel that this cover leans especially hard on the imagery of the movie. And the color blue slips back into the picture here again (and its only the third book). This is a problem that I'll be coming back to again.

Winner: Kazu . . . fairly easily, it turns out.

Year 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

 

Now . . . now we've got some serious competition here! The Grand Pre cover on the right is easily the strongest one examined so far. Harry looks like an actual person and not like a cartoon from the Great Depression. The presence of the three other Triwizard champions behind Harry don't distract me, mostly because Harry is drawn so well for a change and there isn't lots of other cluttery scenery. And, if you, like me wondered what Harry was standing in front of (a Venus fly trap? Brer Rabbit's briar patch?), wonder no more. But while Harry looks much better here, his slovenly clothes are sort of problematic . . . and NOT for the last time.

You might think that I'm going to give this one to Grand Pre . . . but LOOK at that Kibuishi cover! Yes, again, it owes a bit too much to the movie image that I think it should. But having that Horntail come right at you is pretty dramatic stuff.

Winner: Um . . . I've got to give it to Grand Pre on this one. This was the first BIG book and the start of the real Harry Potter boom in the U.S. began as people were waiting for this book to be published. The pressure was on and she delivered an iconic image. (It was in Newsweek--back when Newsweek mattered.)

Year 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Blue, blue, blue! Everything is blue. But this is only Grand Pre's (on the right side, in case you're unsure) first use of blue (or purple or whatever. I'm color-blind, okay?) Kibuishi has already gone down this color palate twice before.
Again, strong Harry figure by Grand Pre this time. And things aren't cluttered or confused. This is a dramatic image telling a story. Harry is in charge and figuring stuff out, y'all! He's not chubby goofball on a bizarre hippogriff. He's got his wand out and he's ready to kick some Deatheater ass!
Kazu's cover is a very good one. The scene is pretty and energetic and the detail of Harry's face is really, really strong. But . . . Order of the Phoenix is a significant book for me.
I was firmly on the bandwagon by this time, but OotP was the first HP book that I had to wait for. It was the first one that I preordered. It was the one that arrived on my door step the weekend after my second daughter was born. I took advantage of my visiting mother-in-law, who was helping with the infant and sped through Phoenix in record time. (And then immediately handed it over for her to read.) Sure, Harry acted like a git through most of the book. But still . . .

Winner: Grand Pre

Year 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

 

I've always like the green of Grand Pre cover image on the right. And since Half-Blood Prince is #1B in my ranking of favorite Harry Potter books, I'm going to be hard pressed to be objective about how I rate this one. All right, how about I criticize Grand Pre's full image for being sort of disjointed and not really unified? And how about I criticize the way that she draws the Death Eater mark in the sky? Is that enough?

Kazu Kibuishi's image is really blue (again!), and really based on the movie image. So, those are things I don't like immediately. Also, Harry's invisibility cloak looks kinda like Metro Man's cape for some reason. So, points off for that . . . I guess. But it's a really strong image overall. This is a really close call.

Winner: Push! 

Year 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Now, can I POSSIBLY end up voting against Grand Pre's iconic image for Deathly Hallows (on the right)? After I spend so much time listening to Pottercast theories about what this scene represented while we waited for the book to be released? What was he reaching up for? Where is he? What's going ON??!!! So many theories!

BUT! Here again, I've never liked Harry's clothes in this image. Too slovenly (as was hinted at in Goblet of Fire above. And the full image brings back the curtain effect that wasn't enjoyable in Sorcerer's Stone. And, I just don't like the Voldemort imagery in that full image either. Even with those criticisms however . . .

Kibuishi's cover is a good one. AND it is the only one that focuses on the Trio, which is appropriate as they form such a vital grouping throughout this story. The background coloration stands out dramatically against the pearly color of the dragon and also is a nod to the sunrise coloration that makes Grand Pre's cover so dramatic. Kibuishi's cover is very, very good and much, MUCH better than the original Bloomsbury version that I have always disliked.

Winner: Mary Grand Pre. (I've simply GOT to.)

The final tally? 3 for Kazu Kibuishi and 3 for Mary Grand Pre with one push.

I guess I really wimped out here. But I think what I've learned is that Grand Pre's art improved as the series grew in popularity and import. She was riding the roller coaster (though probably in a car farther back on the train) along with Jo. And she helped define the characters before Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson overwhelmed things at the end.

Kazu Kibuishi's job was hard, no doubt. He has to introduce the stories to a new generation who (somehow?) are approaching it for the first time or most likely were introduced to the movies first. (A tragedy.) And so, I guess I forgive him a bit for relying on movie imagery as much as I think he did. And his images are striking and really, really nice.

But I think I let my nostalgia win me over in the final analysis. We'll see what I purchase when I have to start replacing my worn down HP books in a few more years.

 

Bring it ON Skynet!

You should really be afraid of me right now! Hello?

Weren't computers supposed to have developed enough intelligence to be killing us by now?

Heck, we should have all been fleeing for our lives twelve years ago . . . 

. . . or was that supposed to have been sixteen years ago?

In any case, what DOES seem clear is that there is no clear date of artificial intelligence from those stupid boxes on our desks or from the rectangles in our pockets. 

Why should we be afraid of them when they don't operate the same way from day-to-day? We ask a laptop to connect to a TV for two days in a row and everything is fine. But on the third day, for no discernible reason at all, it won't do it? And when you do a Internet search to resolve the problem, you dig yourself into a rabbit's warren of increasingly sad pleas and circular "answer" to the problem. (Heck, some of the suggested fixes are really nothing more than modern-day incantations of mystical rituals that a Druid would have nodded in recognition of.

And why do we continue to hand over so much of out decision-making to them? Why are we still asking them to perform miracles for us every day when we can't predict if they will instead act like bullshit from one moment to the next?

 So, go ahead murderous computers! Do your worst against me! Just try and kill me. Based on your current reliability, I've got a LOOOONG life ahead of me.

XVIII

We are deep into Party Month here at the Martin household, but today I want to celebrate one milestone event above Grace's 10th birthday, Lynda's 40th birthday, or Sarah's upcoming 13th birthday.

Today, we celebrate the union that brought (almost) all of those other events to pass. I mean, presumably Lynda would have turned 40 someday had she met me or not. But the other items on the list were the result of a decision we made public 18 years ago today. We stood in Lynda's childhood church in Valdosta, Georgia and pledged our lives to each other--to have, to hold, for richer, for poorer, for all the things you expect to say and for all the things that you can't even imagine you will one day come to say.

Because of THAT pledge, exactly 18 years ago, so many things in our lives pivoted into a new shared direction.

15 years and approximately six days ago, we arrived in southwest Columbus, with all that we owned in a 25-foot truck and a packed Chrysler LeBaron. We celebrated your 25th birthday, Red White and BOOM, and the upcoming Independence Day weekend with lots of moving, furniture lifting, sweat, a fair bit of arguing, and LOTS of exhaustion. But the life we pledged back in Valdosta in 1995 was firmly OURS. We were in a new state, alone, uncertain, but together.

12 years and 351 days ago, we welcomed Sarah into our pair and the family that we had always talked about began to become reality. Sarah drew us out of ourselves and helped us to be better people, who had responsibilities to meet, values to demonstrate, and lessons to teach. She taught us more levels of humility and fear, as well as avenues of happiness that we are still experiencing.

10 years and 11 days ago, Grace joined our trio and made us realize that parenting is all about relearning. Whatever we thought we knew about what worked was tested anew by a completely new individual. And similarly, she introduced us to her own pathways of happiness and pride that made parenting that much more enjoyable again.

5 years and 166 days ago, Hannah completed our group with her own special brand of confidence, laughter, and brashness. She reflects the best and worst of all of us, encapsulating the experiences and personalities of this family that had its beginnings on the hot Valdosta day eighteen years ago . . . today.

So, happy anniversary to my wonderful wife on the day that we officially started it all.

Sure, once might say that it really started on that day in Honors House 22 years and some odd number of days before . . . but I've got to save some stories to write about in the anniversary years to come--20, 30, 37 years ahead.

WWYV?!: The Day Before the Birthday Video

I've learned a slight set of new skills for my videos and I'm currently drunk with the power of possibilities!
Next up, intro screens! outro screens! subscription buttons! what-have-you!

I'm sure that nothing can possibly go wrong now!

Poolside Drama

This afternoon I took Grace and Hannah to the pool. We set up our towels under the trees and then I spent some time in the kiddie pool area with Hannah while Grace tried to locate some of her friends that were supposed to also be at the pool today. (She found two of them, but there was some sort of drama--not unusual for these kids--and she didn't end up playing with them at all. And even though that was, probably, the main motivational reason for her to even go to the pool today . . . well, she's almost ten. That's how things are at this age, I guess.)

Anyway, the point of all of this is to describe something that happened LATER during a different part of the pool visit. This time the three of us were at the lap pool, throwing the water ball. When we first got there, as I was scanning the crowd, I saw lots of people, kids, couples. But as time went on, I overheard the nearby conversation of a couple that seemed to be in the middle of a breakup. I thought that I heard the guy says something along the lines of "This just isn't going to work out." (Actually, he said something else more distinct, or what he said most likely would not have caught my ear, but I was waist deep in pool water and not near to a pad and pen, so my memory is faulty.)

But I knew that something unfortunate was going down, so I kept looking back in their direction as I also played with Hannah and Grace. The couple kept talking for several more minutes, but it was clear that the guy was doing all of the explanations--and the breaking up, I presume--while the girl was just standing there listening. And all the while, the frustrated novelist in me was thinking . . . I wish I could get down all this dialogue. This would be a great scene in a YA novel. And simultaneous to these thoughts, I was also thinking Why would you break up with someone at the POOL?!!!

And as time passed, the breakup continued. And the discussion continued. And she just kept standing there and I would not be obvious about my eavesdropping because, well, its none of my business anyway. But they were close by and I was sort of intrigued by the situation.

I turned my head away for a while to talk and play and when I turned back, he was still in the pool but she had walked somewhere else. I lost track of her for a while but then located her in the crowd, outside the pool. She looked upset, which sort of confirmed my suspicion that a breakup was underway. He kept his back turned to her direction all the time, only turning to look when she was somewhere else. And then I lost her again for a good several minutes and wondered where she was. And then I just gave up and played with the kids more, throwing the ball, talking, keeping up with the pool noodles . . .

And then I found here again, right near us, sitting on the bleachers and staring in his direction, shading her eyes from the sun. I still wasn't absolutely sure that a breakup was going on, since I hadn't really heard his conversation. But they were clearly separated from each other and no longer interacting. And he continued to keep his back to her no matter what side of the pool she was on. I didn't see any crying, just the lingering of two people adjusting to what was happening--albeit in a weirdly public place.

I lost her again after that, once again playing with the kids. I don't know where she went this time but he kept in the pool, just sort of wandering back and forth, staying cool on a hot day. Several times he wandered very near me, as I went after an errantly-thrown ball or whatever. I was tempted to say something to him (as I really had been tempted to say something to her when she was sitting nearby on the bleachers), but I decided I had no real business injecting myself into their own problems. But he did look a bit lost.

And then it was over. We had to get out of the pool for rest periods and I just sort of forgot about the things that wasn't my business and might not have even been the thing I imagined it to be.

But as the day went on, I thought about it more. The most perplexing bit was why at the POOL?! That really flummoxed me. Didn't they come to the pool together at the start of the afternoon? How would he or she get home, if they were no longer a couple? It just really seemed ill-advised.

And then I had to just let it all go. I had lunch to eat, rest periods to negotiate, and my own kids friends-based drama to attend to. I couldn't continue imaging the lives of others any more than I already had. I hope things worked out for those two. I really hope that the girl was okay, as I never got the sense that she was participating at all in all of the events I supposed were happening. She was just being confronted by whatever he had been saying all of that time . . . at the POOL?!

(Seriously, dude. What were you THINKING?)

CODA--Turns out, as we were gathering our stuff to leave the pool a few hours later, we walked past the two of them. They were walking out, still not really talking to each other, but at least reunited in some fashion. (Though probably only, as I feared, to get home in the single car they arrived at the pool in.) They didn't look happy.