Why Are The US Discworld Book Covers Absolute Pants?

[Cheery]

It's probably Wonse.

 

[poohbcarrot]

The girlie looking guy with a sword is a "wonse"?

 

[Dotsie]

Sybil looks like evil. He should have drawn her wearing her Grandmother's tweed jacket. And Carrot doesn't look very manly either. And Death is wearing red!!!

I suppose we all have our ideas of what they should look like. I could never forgive Josh Kirby for drawing Twoflower with four eyes.

 

[poohbcarrot]

Sybil looks like evil.

Yes she does! She looks like a James Bond villainess!

She looks like a manipulator of men (completely unlike the rest of the female species!)

...er..... actually she looks quite sexy!

 

[Tonyblack]

Is the skinny guy with the bow Colon?

 

[poohbcarrot]

Who's the babe on the back of Binky? And who's the pointy-eared elf smoking a pipe? Were there any elves in Reaperman?

 

[Tonyblack]

Who's the babe on the back of Binky? And who's the pointy-eared elf smoking a pipe? Were there any elves in Reaperman?

The guy with the pipe is, I think, Modo. The guy in the coffin is Windle Poons, I have no idea about the girl on Binky - surely not Miss Flitsworth.

 

[Jan Van Quirm]

I think the girlie bloke's supposed to be Wonse's false nephew/king more isn't he?

The bloke with the bow is most definitely Colon and so wrong wrong wrong

 

[Tonyblack]

I think the girlie bloke's supposed to be Wonse's false nephew/king more isn't he?

Well he seems to be wearing the same uniform as Colon.

 

[poohbcarrot]

I thought the guy with the pipe was meant to be Albert. What did Modo do in Reaperman?

Why is the Carrot/Wonse's nephew dude wearing Peter Pan boots?

 

[Tonyblack]

I thought the guy with the pipe was meant to be Albert. What did Modo do in Reaperman?

He got et by his compost heaps.

 

[Sjoerd3000]

These are the Dutch covers for Going Postal, Feet of clay, Lords and Ladies and Thud! Josh Kirby´s and Paul Kidby's artwork is used.

 

[kakaze]

In the picture, Carrot's too thin and Ramkin's too evil, but carrot did wear a Protective, and Ramkin did wear a ginger wig and low-cut nightgown.

I'm pretty sure the guy smoking the pipe is Modo. Didn't he smoke a pipe to protect himself from the smell of his glowing compost?

The girl on Binky could be Ms. Flitworth after she died. Didn't she revert to a younger version of herself, or am I getting her mixed up with the witch who died in Soul Music?

And why should you be angry at the cover artist for drawing four eyes when the character in the book has four eyes? I was more annoyed with Pratchett for getting a little carried away making Twoflower seem strange and exotic.

 

[Tonyblack]

And why should you be angry at the cover artist for drawing four eyes when the character in the book has four eyes? I was more annoyed with Pratchett for getting a little carried away making Twoflower seem strange and exotic.

It was a misunderstanding apparently. Terry meant that Twoflower was wearing glasses - no one in A-M had seen them before so that's how they described Twoflower. Josh took Terry literally and drew him with four actual eyes.

- [p. 16/16] "[...] found himself looking up into a face with four eyes in it."

On the covers of the first two Discworld books, Josh Kirby actually drew Twoflower with four physical eyes. Consensus on alt.fan.pratchett has it that Terry was trying to get across the fact that Twoflower was wearing glasses ('four-eyes' being a common insult thrown at bespectacled folks), but that Josh Kirby simply triggered on the literal text and went off in a direction of his own. Whether this action essentially shows Kirby's interpretative genius (the KirbyFan explanation) or his inability to get the joke / read very carefully (the NonKirbyFan explanation) is a matter still under discussion.

 

[poohbcarrot]

I could be wrong, but I don't think that's the Lords and Ladies Josh Kirby cover.

 

[Jan Van Quirm]

I think you're right pooh - or at least not the Josh Kirby UK cover pic as there Erlking's different (those horns are more bullish than a stag's rack which are definitely on the UK copy)

Checked! definitely not the same cover as UK - that has Nanny & Casanunda on the title side and Erlking's on the spine complete with antlers and shaggy goaty legs and much more macho than portly... *goes to shower*
I'm not sure the non-Kidby covers are Kirby's actually - the women aren't quite right for him and the palette's off somehow as well?

 

[Sjoerd3000]

according to the copyright the coverart is from Josh Kirby

 

[Jan Van Quirm]

Ah well - Josh was a pretty versatile artist so he maybe tried alternative styles for other markets. I'm not saying it's not his just that the UK cover's different.

 

[Sjoerd3000]

I find it very interesting that the UK covers are different (or at least the Lords and Ladies cover) I always assumed they were the same now it turns out that the Dutch cover is unique!

How about the Men at arms cover? is it the same as the UK one?

 

[Tonyblack]

Yep - that's the same.

I know I've seen that Lords and Ladies cover before and it is indeed Kirby - I guess I must have seen it in the Netherlands.