7,848
edits
m (fix broken external links) |
HLIAA14YOG (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
||
(12 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:Covenant.jpg|link=Chronicles of Thomas Covenant|
So you've got a series planned out, and want people to instantly recognize that the thing sitting on the bookshelf there is part of it. What do you do? Give every installment of your series idiosyncratic cover art!
This is where cover art is basically the same motif repeated over and over with slight variations within a franchise. Collectors probably love this stuff. Until the scheme is switched midway through publishing a series, anyway.
One popular variation is to have the covers of all the installments of a work form a larger picture when they're placed side by side in the correct order.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* When you put all of the boxes of the DVDs of ''[[.hack
* When all volumes of ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' are put together, the images on their spines form a huge mural.
** Similarly, the VHS tapes form different pictures when placed side by side in order, one for each saga. They even had alternative pictures for the uncut tapes.
* The English volumes of ''[[Darker
* The spines of the Finnish volumes of ''[[Ranma
** The original Japanese collected editions all had female Ranma's mugshot (in a variety of colors) at the top of the spine. Mainly comedic, romantic, or filler volumes would depict her with a whimsical or cute expression; volumes that were predominantly serious or action-oriented would instead give her a determined, or even ''fierce'' one. The final volume gave her a genuinely happy look.
* The spine art of [[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]] is this; each volume features the basic metallic gray, red and white color scheme and a single character on the side of the tanokban. Thanks to the series' sizable lifespan it ended up showcasing practically every major character, and the Elric brothers more than once, due to [[Character Development|significant visual changes]]).
** [[Natsuki Takaya]]'s [[Fruits Basket]] [[Shoujo|shoujo manga]] did the same thing.
*** Same with [[Yuji Iwahara]]'s ''[[Cat Paradise]]'', [[Koge Donbo]]'s [[Kamisama Karin]] and its sequel, [[Hiroyuki Takei]]'s [[Shaman King|various]] [[Karakuridouji Ultimo|series]], and many more.
Line 25:
** The German edition had it too.
** And so did the Finnish.
** Spain's [http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS5xbWpjKe8x77cUezKQiBeLyGnHzytMWb7artSbRkeykBdRqqv2A "Literature Classics"]{{Dead link}} collection, which is currently being followed in Brazil.
* The spines of the ''[[Sin City]]'' books published when the movie came out form a picture of Nancy when assembled.
* Some older ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (
* The covers of ''[[The Walking Dead]]'' trade paperbacks all form one long mural of zombies when put next to each other.
* The covers of the final ''[[Cerebus the Aardvark|Cerebus]]'' storyline from about #291 to 299 join together (with one duplicate) to form a 360 degree panorama (by background artist Gerhard) of the room in which Cerebus spends his final day.
* The covers of the three ''[[Blackest Night]]'' tie-in issues of ''[[Green Lantern|Tales of the Corps]]'' (issued during the first part of the saga), when put together, form one single image featuring the main member of each Corps in the emotional spectrum.
* Variant covers for certain ''[[Brightest Day]]'' titles would form one image featuring the resurrected twelve as White Lanterns on thrones with the seven emotional entities, Nekron, and the Entity in the middle, as seen in the Brightest Day page.
* The spines of the trade books making up the ''[[House of M]]'' and ''[[House of M|Decimation]]'' events for the [[
== [[Film]] ==
* There are several box sets of the ''[[Star Trek]]'' movies out, that when placed end to end, form a picture of the Enterprise (Constitution Refit). Later editions that include the ''[[Star Trek:
* The spines of one set of the [[James Bond]] films on DVD forms the 007 logo when the films are put in order.
* One DVD set of the ''[[Rocky (
== [[Literature]] ==
* As shown above, the latest edition of the first three ''[[Chronicles of Thomas Covenant]]'' novels are clearly meant to go each other. When place next to one another, they form a complete illustration of the title character's white-gold wedding ring.
* The ''[[Discworld]]'' books have several different covers, but the newest North American editions all have a black background with a single inanimate object artistically shown.
* One edition of ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'' series, when the books are placed side by side, forms a picture of the castle.
* ''[[The Inheritance Cycle]]'' has a portrait of a dragon on each cover with one dominant color: blue for ''Eragon'', red for ''Eldest'', gold for ''Brisingr'', and green for ''Inheritance''.
* ''[[Twilight (
** Plus the distinctive color scheme: black, white and red.
* The ''[[
* One edition of the four ''[[
* Some recent editions of the World Book Encyclopedia form the title WORLD BOOK across the spines when the volumes are arranged in order.
* Old British editions of [[Robin Hobb]]'s novels all had fantasy art within an ornate borderwork, with the style of the border changing with each trilogy. Newer editions all have a single animal on a plain background (although one had a ship), similiar to...
Line 54:
*** Feasting crows, on the other hand, tend to drink from the veins of corpses, though...
* The UK covers Scott Westerfeld's ''Midnighters'' trilogy form a clock on the spine, hands at 12 o'clock.
* Many of the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] novels have the [[Star Wars]] logo written
* The ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' novel trilogy ''Millenium'' has a long shot of the station and wormholes (yes, plural) spanning across the three front covers.
* Barbara Remington's wonderful painting that became the cover of Ballantine Book's paperback edition of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. What started as the cover for "The Hobbit" became a 38" x 73" long oil on masonite painting transitioning from the Shire to Mordor. The cover for each volume was 1/3 of the painting, and when you set the books next to each other you got the whole thing. The full poster was on this troper's bedroom wall for years ...
* The first edition of [[Stephen King]]'s novels ''[[
* The covers of the ''[[
* ''[[The Hunger Games]]'' trilogy features the iconic Mockingjay pin on the first book, a stationary, dark-colored version of the Mockingjay that is seemingly trapped in its circular frame on the second book, and a predominantly white Mockingjay in flight breaking out of its circular frame on the third. Bonus points for being a sequential representation of the plot.
* Roger Elwood's 4-volume original science fiction anthology series ''Continuum'', which featured several continuing story series, was published in Britain with four covers by the same artist, two of which consisted of a single painting split in two.
Line 65:
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* The ''[[Babylon 5]]'' box sets (at least the UK versions) each have a big 5 logo on the spine with and end-on picture of the station in the crook of the 5, tinted a different colour on each volume. Unfortunately the overall effect is ruined by the Fourth Season version being too big and the Fifth Season misaligned.
* The UK ''[[
** The VHS tapes for the remastered version of the first three series join together to form a single image. Quite cleverly this is integrated into each volumes cover art, which wraps around from the front to back cover. ([https://web.archive.org/web/20130722101831/http://www.reddwarf.co.uk/downloads/index.cfm?category=wallpapers&subcategory=remastered Images], number 7 is based on the spines).
* The Contender DVD box sets of ''[[The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers]]'' join up to form portraits of Steed and Mrs. Gale, Steed and Mrs. Peel in black and white, Steed and Mrs. Peel in colour, Steed and Tara King, and Steed, Purdy and Gambit.
* Contender uses similar designs on its ''[[Lexx]]'' box sets (which unfortunately don't include Season 4).
* The UK ''Star Trek:: Deep Space Nine'' VHS tapes had a series of long thin images spread over their spines (each spine only had a square of the image), showing various space scenes relevant to each season. The last '90s release of the original ''[[Star Trek]]'' had quotes revealed when all the spines were put together as well.
Line 75:
== [[Magazines]] ==
* Putting together a full year of [[Maxim]] shows yet another scantily-clad model on the spines.
* In [[
** Nintendo Power used to do that with every year until they switched to the new cover style a few years ago. For instance, as this troper recalls, the combined spine image for 2003 was [[The Legend of Zelda:
* Putting together a single year's worth of ''PC Gamer Magazine'' together in order will form an image (ranging from a larger version of their logo to an image from a hotly-anticipated game.
== [[Music]] ==
* Be-Bop Deluxe: Six CDs where the spines spell out BE-BOP at the top and DELUXE at the bottom.
* There's a [[Pink Floyd]] [
* The remastered [[Marillion]] CDs from ''Script for a Jester's Tear'' to ''Afraid of Sunlight'' have letters on the spines which spell M-A-R-I-LL-I-O-N (eight albums, nine letters, so the two L's go on one spine)
* The cover art for Nelly's ''Sweat'' / ''Suit'' albums can be placed side by side to form a picture.
* [[Starflyer 59]]'s ''Ghosts of the Future'' box set consists of 10 vinyl singles. When their sleeves are laid out in a 2x5 row, they form an abstract isometric picture.
* [[
** As have Megadeth and Japan.
** It should be pointed out this is a rather crafty marketing trick to sell live albums. Live After Death, A Real Live Dead One and Live At Donington are required to complete Iron Maiden's spine image, regardless of whether you want to listen to them or not.
* Type O Negative album covers generally have a theme. On the front, the band's logo is in one corner, the album title in the diagonally opposite corner, usually no tracklist on back and the band's name and album title in large bold lettering in on the spine. Because the lettering on each spine is a different color, they look quite nice when lined up next to each other, Bloody Kisses, October Rust and World Coming Down being the best examples. Their only albums not to follow this pattern are the original release of The Origin Of The Feces, (the cover was redesigned to fit the tradition on its reissue) and The Best Of, which was released without their permission. Part of the reason the band were so annoyed with The Best Of is that they had no input with the cover.
* Everything by Demon Hunter has a [[Textless Album Cover]] with some variation on the band's logo (a silhouette of a demon's head with bullet hole) rendered in a different "medium": a seal on the cover of a leather-bound book, an appropriately-shaped dead tree stump, rust on a metal gate, a cow's skull on a bed of roses, etc.
* Almost all of [[Chicago (
* Thus far, all Days Of The New albums have been [[Self-Titled Album|self-titled]], and all of their covers feature depictions of the same dead tree in different settings. The exception is the [[Greatest Hits Album]] ''Definitive Collection'', which opts for a photo of [[I Am the Band|Travis Meeks]] sitting down with an acoustic guitar instead. The next album has been announced as ''Days of the New Presents Tree Colors'', which breaks the self-titled pattern - given the title, that signature tree is probably not going anywhere though...
== [[Video Games]] ==
* Starting with ''[[The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
* Each video game in the main ''[[Halo]]'' trilogy features [[The Hero|Master Chief]] staring at something with a gun in hand.
* When ''[[
* The first three releases in the ''[[
* Each game in the ''[[Star Wars Battlefront]]'' series (except the mobile phone versions, because they don't count) has had some kind of soldier facing to the viewer's right and shooting. They also had combatants from opposing sides until ''Elite Squadron'' bucked the trend. Additionally, [[
* Continuing the [[.hack]] example above, placing the cases for the first 4 games side by side reveals a picture of [[Hello, Insert Name Here|the main character]] riding a grunty along the bottom of the spines.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* The spines of the core ''[[
* Identical cover layouts, complete with a franchise-wide "picture frame" have become more or less standard for roleplaying games and miniature wargames. Notable examples include every gameline put out by White Wolf.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Paratext]]
[[Category:Example
[[Category:
|