Clothes Don’t Work That Way: When Alternative Covers Are Better

Eleanor & the Egret #1 variant cover by Elizabeth Torque

Aftershock Comics has a new title coming out April 5 called Eleanor & the Egret. It’s written (and lettered) by John Layman (Chew, Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen) and illustrated by Sam Kieth (The Maxx), and it’s about an art thief accompanied by a giant bird. Here’s the description:

A slightly surreal tale of an art thief and her sidekick, a talking egret who gets just a bit bigger after each successful caper, as they embark on a escalating series of daring thefts of world-famous paintings and dodge pursuers in an increasingly weirdly dangerous game of cat-and-mouse.

Here’s the main cover to issue #1, by Kieth.

Eleanor & the Egret #1

The first thing that struck me was, for what sounds like it might be an historical story (and given that hat), that dress is ridiculous. The part that stands out is where it’s tight enough to suggest a belly button! It doesn’t bode well for a comic I want to read, either, because how can a reader focus on story when the artist wants to draw attention to people’s bodies with skintight costumes?

The 1 in 10 variant cover, by Elizabeth Torque, is more inspirational and to my eye, gives a bit more idea of the concept. But fewer people will see it, and it will be more expensive to own. Shame.

Eleanor & the Egret #1 variant cover by Elizabeth Torque

Layman was quoted as saying:

“I’m proud to be part of the AfterShock family, and grateful they are getting behind Sam and I for this very unique and off-kilter book. I would describe Eleanor & the Egret as a fable, and a surrealist romance, but it’s probably more easily described as something NOT easily describable. It’s a melding of two unique voices to comics. It’s also just an excuse for me to give Sam cool stuff to draw, and, in that, he’s exceeding all expectations — some of the pages he’s turning in are absolutely breathtaking.”



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