Changed/alternative cover art

[Kinggodzillak]

Going through some very early issues of Star Trek Magazine and noticed this in the upcoming releases in the merchandise section;

Not too different from the artwork that eventually appeared on the cover, but different enough to be worth noting. Does anyone else have any examples of cover artwork that was changed prior to publication?

 

[Therin of Andor]

There have been quite a few. The Klingon face of Kobri was different in the catalogue listing of "Strike Zone". "The Best and the Brightest" was solicited and advertised under a "Starfleet Academy" logo, not "The Next Generation".

The solicited cover of one of the "Q Continuum" trilogy was a combination of the other two covers. Will see what I can find...


Q Continuum by Ian McLean, on Flickr



ST IV solicitation cover slick - McIntyre by Ian McLean, on Flickr
by Ian McLean, on Flickr


ST IV solicitation cover slick - Lerangis by Ian McLean, on Flickr


Cast No Shadows by Ian McLean, on Flickr


Double Helix: First Virtue covers by Ian McLean, on Flickr

Patrick Stewart nixed the Picard-with-hair cover and he was replaced with Tuvok.


Corroney's IDW Trek cover art - before change by Ian McLean, on Flickr

The above Andorian female became an Orion in the final IDW comic cover art.

Shran disappeared off this one, replaced by blonde Mirror T'Pol:


ENT Mirror Universe 3 by Ian McLean, on Flickr

Solicitation art for Shatner's "Get a Life!":


Shatner and blue friends by Ian McLean, on Flickr

I once had a solicited advance cover for "Night of the Living Trekkies" on my blog - and they emailed and asked me to switch it for the final cover art - and then sent me a pre-press sample of the book as a special thank you!

In related issues, the cover of "Triangle" (Kirk and Spock) is featured as the cover of the audiobook of "The Entropy Effect", because mustachioed Sulu's arc had been abridged out of the narrative.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

The cover for First Virtue drives me nuts either way, since Beverly Crusher isn't in the book at all. The Crusher the book focuses on is JACK Crusher. I grant that putting him on the cover might have elicited 'who's that?' reactions, but STILL...

Back on topic, I recall Unworthy had an initial cover with Chakotay and Seven in civilian attire before it became the image of Voyager.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I recall Unworthy had an initial cover with Chakotay and Seven in civilian attire before it became the image of Voyager.

Definitely only a placeholder cover.


Unworthy by Ian McLean, on Flickr

 

[Stevil2001]

The cover for First Virtue drives me nuts either way, since Beverly Crusher isn't in the book at all. The Crusher the book focuses on is JACK Crusher. I grant that putting him on the cover might have elicited 'who's that?' reactions, but STILL...

She does appear briefly in a communications sequence, as I recall.

I think John Ordover said the reason was that it seemed wrong to do a set of TNG medical books WITHOUT Crusher on the cover, but there was no one cover where she was a logical fit. (I think the only other one she has a real role in is the first one.)

 

[Kinggodzillak]

I rather like that Cast No Shadow cover, though I can see why Patrick Stewart would want that Double Helix cover changed. Picard looks rather Seagal-ish there...

 

[Greg Cox]

It's not uncommon for early versions of a cover to be used for solicitation reasons. This is practically routine with movie novelizations, where the final movie "key art" is often not available until right before you go to press.

And titles change, too. Somewhere I have an early EUGENICS WARS cover in which the title was simply KHAN in big, bold letters. In retrospect, that might have have been a more commercial way to go . . ..

 

[Christopher]

And titles change, too. Somewhere I have an early EUGENICS WARS cover in which the title was simply KHAN in big, bold letters. In retrospect, that might have have been a more commercial way to go . . ..

Better yet: KHAAAANNN!!!

 

[Corran Horn]

I've seen pictures of the "New Frontier" beginning 4-novella set with the Starfleet characters wearing the TNG-season-3 uniforms rather than the "First Contact" type uniforms used in publication.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I rather like that Cast No Shadow cover

Yes. It kinda matches the "Vulcan's Soul" trilogy in concept.

I've seen pictures of the "New Frontier" beginning 4-novella set with the Starfleet characters wearing the TNG-season-3 uniforms rather than the "First Contact" type uniforms used in publication.

Yes, I was looking for these. I seem to recall the exclusive-to-"The Communicator" Playmates' action figure of Captain Calhoun was originally advertised with the prototype wearing an older version of the commbadge.

 

[Csalem]

Here is cover art with Calhoun in VGR uniform and Shelby in TNG uniform:
http://www.danhausertrek.com/NewFrontier/EarlyCover.jpg

From this page:
http://www.danhausertrek.com/NewFrontier/About.html

 

[Corran Horn]

ah, I'd forgotten Calhoun was in a DS9/VGR-type uniform.

 

[Stevil2001]

I forgot about the abandoned "NF" logo (you can see it behind the "Book Two").

 

[Jim Johnson]

The cover art for Mirror Universe: Shards and Shadows underwent a change as well.

Details at Memory Beta:

http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Shards_and_Shadows

tl;dr An image of T'Pol was replaced by an image of Shran.

 

[Therin of Andor]

An image of T'Pol was replaced by an image of Shran.

Actually, it was Shran replaced by T'Pol in the final cover. As shown in my post above.

 

[Christopher]

^In this universe, maybe...

 

[Saga]

And titles change, too. Somewhere I have an early EUGENICS WARS cover in which the title was simply KHAN in big, bold letters. In retrospect, that might have have been a more commercial way to go . . ..

Better yet: KHAAAANNN!!!