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Post by Dante on Jul 28, 2017 14:40:59 GMT -5
- Lemony Snicket's FacebookDaniel Handler used Mr. Snicket's apparently official Facebook today to announce undefined "new packaging" for ATWQ. The image above, of course, is a poster tailored to the entire series, but its realistic style nonetheless accurately represents significant features of the setting such as S. Theodora Markson's green roadster, the drained sea, the railway bridge, the Stain'd lighthouse, and the Sallis mansion, and would be a good fit for ?1 as cover art. It seems likely, then, that this is a soft-announcement of a new set of cover art for the series, with the realistic style perhaps intended to tie in to upcoming Netflix editions of ASoUE which will presumably be fronted with stills from the TV series - although it is bound to incite further debate about the cover art and marketing of ATWQ as a whole. Discuss.
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Post by Esmé's meme is meh on Jul 28, 2017 15:06:44 GMT -5
I'm really curious of what kind of illustrations this new edition is going to use (assuming they'll be using new illustrations). I don't know how to feel about a possible ATWQ show...
Btw Dante, I hope you don't mind if I use your text on the Facebook fanpage!
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Post by gliquey on Jul 28, 2017 15:36:07 GMT -5
I have to say I'm never a fan of banners on book covers essentially saying "If you've heard of this other thing, please buy this book", but as far as they go, "Before A Series Of Unfortunate Events" is one of the least obnoxious banners I've seen. (I think the ASOUE Netflix editions have the typical annoying sticker saying words to the effect of "Now a major Netflix show!")
I do like both the original U.K. and U.S. covers of ATWQ - on the one hand, I think the U.K. covers are simpler (less cluttered) on the front and prefer them for that reason, but on the other hand I've got the U.S. covers of ?1 and ?3 incorporated into my desktop wallpaper. But I do wonder whether the colourful styles of the front covers are the right approach to a sort of noir detective series. I do absolutely love the coloured illustrations inside the books, but black-and-white covers may be more fitting. (Side note: are there Australian covers or other versions? I seem to recall seeing a third cover of one of the ATWQ books somewhere, which was similar but not identical to the U.K. one.)
I don't think this announcement is any evidence towards a Netflix adaptation of ATWQ, and anyway it's much too soon when season 2 of ASOUE isn't even out yet, but while we're here my opinion is that I would love four movie-long 'episodes' covering ATWQ (and maybe a bonus of some sort for FU13), but I doubt it would get commissioned and doubt even further that it would be particularly well-received. But Netflix focus less on ratings than traditional TV networks, so you never know, especially if ASOUE gets more and more popular in its later seasons.
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Post by Poe's Coats Host Toast on Jul 28, 2017 16:07:23 GMT -5
Pretty sure the realistic design is just supposed to evoke all the promo for the Netflix show, possibly with a hint of "read it before this Snicket series gets adapted next" due to the 'Before ASoUE' banner. Overall, I am not impressed, and Snicket's/Handler's comment along the facebook post seems to suggest as much, too. The typefaces of both title and author are bad, and together with the photoshop cover, it looks cheap and classless.
The picture itself would be alright as, f.ex., a pre-production pic for an adaptation or something along those lines... as a cover however, no dice. Especially since I don't get how they'd incl. Seth's illustrations with no hint of them on such a cover... if they do, then that cover is kind of false advertising. Plus it massively disturbs Seth and Handler's original artistic vision. I just hope these will be soon forgotten, while the original editions will continue to find buyers.
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Post by Dante on Jul 28, 2017 16:16:08 GMT -5
I assume that there won't be new illustrations, any more than I assume the Netflix editions of ASoUE will have new illustrations; generally, the covers may change, but the illustrations are too good to be messed with - and once readers are in, it doesn't really matter if the cover doesn't fit. Admittedly, though, my feelings on this subject are partly affected by the fact that I really like the internal illustrations for ATWQ. But I never liked the covers, in either variation; the style is different to that inside the book, there's no unity to the LB editions, and the Egmont editions are too gaudy and every volume is inconsistent with the rest. I don't know if the new cover style is a great improvement, either; it makes it look like a book from the 90s. But it may work, to pitch the covers at effectively a completely different audience; I felt that the original covers aimed for too young an audience, whereas these aim perhaps too high. ...Essentially, I still feel that there's a yet-undiscovered perfect style for the ATWQ covers which will probably never arrive. Btw Dante, I hope you don't mind if I use your text on the Facebook fanpage! Be my guest. (Side note: are there Australian covers or other versions? I seem to recall seeing a third cover of one of the ATWQ books somewhere, which was similar but not identical to the U.K. one.) There are alternative covers in Australia, where the series is published by Hardie Grant Egmont, and the covers are weird first-draft versions of the Egmont U.K. covers, including at least one blatant mistake left in. Plus it massively disturbs Seth and Handler's original artistic vision. I just hope these will be soon forgotten, while the original editions will continue to find buyers. It's funny, but you could say exactly the same thing about the ill-fated "penny dreadful" editions of ASoUE, although at least those benefited from using the same illustrator as the originals.
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Post by gliquey on Jul 28, 2017 16:44:26 GMT -5
There are alternative covers in Australia, where the series is published by Hardie Grant Egmont, and the covers are weird first-draft versions of the Egmont U.K. covers, including at least one blatant mistake left in. Ah yes - I've just realised you've listed them here. I have to say, other than the ?1 cover, I do think they are quite a nice compromise between the many panels in the U.S. covers and the one center image in the U.K. covers (ignoring ?2). The U.K. covers themselves aren't error-free ("abord" in the blurb of ?4) - does the Australian version have more/different mistakes? I imagine with the new packaging for ATWQ, they'll use the larger physical sizes of books, but I think the size of [U.K.] ?1 was perfect, and never really found a satisfactory solution to my problem that ?3/?4 are too big to fit on the middle shelf of my bookcase along with the rest of my Snicket/Handler stuff.
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Post by Dante on Jul 28, 2017 16:55:27 GMT -5
The U.K. covers themselves aren't error-free ("abord" in the blurb of ?4) - does the Australian version have more/different mistakes? I was thinking of the white border between spine and main cover on the Australian versions of ?2 through ?4. I was astonished when I saw photographs of physical copies with that white line left in; it's blatantly just empty space which they didn't get around to filling in. But "lack of care" was the watchword for anything Egmont did with ATWQ, save when they were busy borrowing the cover art.
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Post by Poe's Coats Host Toast on Jul 28, 2017 18:31:19 GMT -5
Plus it massively disturbs Seth and Handler's original artistic vision. I just hope these will be soon forgotten, while the original editions will continue to find buyers. It's funny, but you could say exactly the same thing about the ill-fated "penny dreadful" editions of ASoUE, although at least those benefited from using the same illustrator as the originals. And that is the crucial difference: they featured Helquist's art prominently on the cover, and more than that, it was new art, giving the re-issue a purpose. As you say, the original ATWQ covers aren't perfect either, so I'd welcome a similar kind of re-issue for it, giving Seth a chance to improve upon the original covers (I don't think he actually designed the original covers, although he does do book designs too). Plus the penny dreadfuls had a neat concept, as opposed to the massively bland children's-book-designed-for-adults re-packaging here. If they did a tattered pulp fiction paperback style re-issue, including Seth's artwork, that'd be much cooler.
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Post by Reba on Jul 29, 2017 16:03:54 GMT -5
i don't like seth's illustrations and i think they subvert the attempt at a noir mood in the prose, but it's effed up that they might get rid of them, because illustrations in a children's book are obviously more than just 'packaging.'
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teslak20
Reptile Researcher
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Post by teslak20 on Aug 3, 2017 8:36:59 GMT -5
I would love to see an ATWQ show. I liked ATWQ much more than ASOUE, as I preferred the Twin Peaks style small-town supernatural mystery (with Lemony Snicket's unique writing style, humor, and plotting replacing the Lynchian elements of Twin Peaks) to ASOUE's formula of putting the Baudelaires in outrageous set-pieces with equally outrageous characters and playing out the same comedy routine over and over until the last few books. ATWQ was, and still is, special to me. It has an indescribable spark that makes me love it.
I feel like an ATWQ series could really overlap with the target audience and themes of Stranger Things, and maybe even pull in their watchers. For this reason I think ATWQ production should begin when Stranger Things ends. (This is another reason I want it so much. Combining my two favorite Netflix shows? YES PLEASE!)
I would imagine ATWQ as a mini-series with one season and 8 episodes, with each book being cut in two. This will allow the fleshing out each book deserves, as they are far meatier than ASOUE. And hey, maybe by then Snicket's planned ATWQ sequel series would be released, creating more seasons.
One can dream...
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Post by Dante on Aug 3, 2017 9:15:04 GMT -5
Oh? And what planned sequel series would that be? Or are you imagining merely an anticipated one? Regarding the new covers, I did a little digging just now, and while every social media page except Handler's personal Snicket's personal Facebook page has yet to acknowledge them, they are starting to filter out onto online stores: www.amazon.com/dp/0316445460/Still using the full poster as a placeholder, but we have a tentative release date: October 24th. That's around the time the ASoUE Netflix editions start coming out, and given that the very synopsis of this new "Question 1" volume mentions Netflix, then, well...
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teslak20
Reptile Researcher
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Post by teslak20 on Aug 3, 2017 12:35:43 GMT -5
Didn't Snicket mention the fact that the story isn't over when you guys interviewed him last summer?
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Post by Dante on Aug 3, 2017 14:34:19 GMT -5
Ah, well, I suppose there is... Teleram and thedoctororwell: Did Mr. Snicket ever return to Stain'd by the Sea? Did he ever hear from the town’s inhabitants again, or ask his sister what became of Ms. Feint? Handler:Mr. Snicket's story is not done being chronicled, but suffice to say that when he stepped into the Clusterous Forest he was not out of the woods. But with no other hints in that direction since, it's hard to take it as anything more than a vague statement of intent; nothing has been announced.
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emf3rd
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Post by emf3rd on Aug 3, 2017 21:47:28 GMT -5
In 2006, when The End came out, I was sure there would never be another series set in the same world again. I figured that was that, and to be happy with what we got. If you had told me right then and there that in only 6 years there would be a prequel series, I wouldn't have believed it.
That being said, with hindsight, if by 2021 (six years after '15, when the last ATWQ book was published) there is another series set in the world, I will not be nearly as surprised. I am eagerly awaiting it, in fact!
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Post by Teleram on Aug 8, 2017 16:53:25 GMT -5
Looks singularly AWFUL
Reminds me of a potato ing James Patterson/John Grisham book or something. The worst possible route they coulda took
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