Alternative Covers

As obvious as it sounds, i also thought it might be a good idea to look at all the other 'What a Carve Up!' covers that have been used since its release in 1994....

Above is the one of the original covers, showing Shirley Eaton and Yuri Gagarin.  Shirley is a character from the film 'What A Carve Up' that young Roddy goes to see with parents as a child.  Strangely they both play very little in the story, and i struggle to see the relevance of them in the big picture.  The only conclusion i could come to, is that sex sells, and the astronaut, almost looks like he is checking her out.

This cover (above), appears to show a young Roddy Winshaw.  Again in the background is a much larger image of Shirley.  This i think works much better as a cover, but still curious as to why they would use a young Roddy, as its such a small part of the book.

This cover again depicts a scene from the film of the same name, but this time with nothing else relevant to the story in the image.  Again it may work as it has an attractive woman on the cover, but in my opinion is not a particularly good design.

Now this cover is completely different.  Just two simple colours with a small silhouette of a man.  The 'H' of the word 'What' has been stylised to resemble a house.  Also the typeface is quite comedic, which in itself gives you a good idea of the style of the book.

I like this cover.  Even though it has a huge grey blank space, it creates an atmosphere, and tells quite a few stories in one image.  Its obviously all hand drawn, and the effect is very nice.  The only criticism i have is the white drop shadow, which seems pointlessely out of the way, even going of the page.

This cover i don't like much, but it does work to set the scene of the 80's, that almost Sex Pistols style of cut and paste.

Interestigly it was also called 'The Winshaw Conspiracy', so this bought up some other covers.....

This cover paperers to relate the Winshaw house, as featured in the beginning of the book.  Interestingly, the roof has been left off, but then there isn't anything going on in the house which i find odd.  But its actually a very nice illustration, and i like the chequer around the edge.

This cover depicts again, the Winshaw house in the beginning of the story, with the burglar who was accidentally killed, the butler, and some of the other Winshaw family.  Again a very nice illustration, one of, if not the best cover of the lot.