Judging a Cover By Its Book: The Scarlet Plague

In my previous Impressions, I took a look at Jack London's often-overlooked dystopian novella, The Scarlet Plague. To my surprise, a quick Google Image Search showed me that stand-alone editions of London's sci-fi short are definitely in abundance, and with each edition comes a cover different from the last one. However, because the version that I have can barely be considered a cover, I am going to judge three different covers that I haven't personally seen or bought. Two of them will be rather good, and one will be meh. The story you know already from the Impressions review,  so there is nothing more to be said: let's get cracking!

...And we're off to a great start! This particular cover, which I found the most appealing of all the covers I've found for The Scarlet Plague, is from Hesperus Classics. And I must say, it's a darn good, contemporary cover for a classics line -- not exactly your run-of-the-mill Penguin or Wordsworth classics' cover.

The thing I like best about this cover is the color selection, and Good Lord, you will learn why by the end of this article. Cement grey with a slight dirt-like distortion, cranberry red and plain white go so well together as a color theme, especially for a dystopian, epidemic-themed horror story. The colors don't scream "Zombie", which is a good thing. A very good thing. God I'm tired of Zombies.

There is distinct minimalist style at play here. The raised hands with splayed fingers, reaching out into the sky -- perhaps to signal for help, perhaps to show unity in death (the infected, scarlet hands at the top) as well as in life (the healthy grey hands at the bottom) -- are so alike, disorganized and crowded together that from afar they resemble frayed edges rather than an assembly of fingers. What particularly stands out is the one white hand specked with red that stands out in either crowd. Do those two hands belong to carriers who are immune to the disease, or do they belong to people who are doomed with the plague? If the latter is the case, then the upper hand reveals the story of the last survivor among a crowd of dead or soon-to-be-dead, now infected and about to join them, while the lower hand tells of the unhappy incident of a single infected person in a crowd of still-healthy.

Appearance: 4 (out of 5)
While I cannot imagine that much effort was needed in this cover, it is definitely aesthetically pleasing to the eye. It's the minimalism and the well-chosen color theme that does it for me.

Attention: 3
Especially for a classics' cover, it is unique and would certainly stand out in a crowd of other books, moderns and classics alike. However, the cover as such is not much of an attention-grabber -- the colors, though very easy on the eyes, are a bit downtoned, or in other words they are not striking enough to immediately grab attention. The name of Jack London printed across the middle, in an even bigger font than the title, would attract many a curious glance, but alone the cover is not overly intriguing.

Innovation: 3
I am quite sure that I have seen similar covers to this one on other horror-books, though I cannot at the moment give any exact names, therefore on the scale of innovation this cover does not rate too high. Again, maybe it's the color theme, which ironically I think is its best feature although it is also the core reason for the cover being average on the attention and innovation scales, or it could be the minimalist style of the groups of hands.

Plot-likeness: 4
This is very clever. You've seen me above trying to interpret the meaning of the hands and their different colors, and there is definitely many cunning references to London's plot, most noticeably the plague-bitten white hands.

The second good cover I've found, and depending on your tastes, this cover may be just as good as the one above or even better. Personally, I like both of them equally.

This particular cover is from the Radium Age Science Fiction Series, and it approaches the dystopian story in a completely different light than the Hesperus one. Hesperus' cover alludes to society and the disease itself, while this one reflects the landscaping and the settings of the story.
Again, the title is not red, but yellow and white against red. Keep the significance of this mind. Trust me, there's a reason.

Another curious difference is the size of the fonts on either covers: Hesperus emphasizes the author, while Radium Age enlargens the title.

This style is definitely not minimalist, but I'll be damned if I can put my finger on what style this is exactly. It is out of tune with countless other scifi covers, and there is a strange combination of sans-serif font, red three-dimensional buildings linked together to form a deserted street, and a sea-green cloudy sky with the yellowish hue of the faint sun.
The color theme again boils down to three main colors: scarlet red, yellow (a bit of a sickly yellow in my opinion) and sea-foam blue.
Red, yellow and blue -- does that color group sound familiar to you? You don't have to be an art student to realize that these are the three primary colors. Clever cover artists.

The yellow of the font presumably alludes to disease (as I've said, it looks like a sickly yellow), while the empty red street indicates that the plague has taken over everything, turning everything scarlet in its wake and leaving the desolate, abandoned urban detritus behind. The sun could be rising, which announces a new dawn approaching (a reference to the newer generations who might, in a couple of centuries, rebuild civilization sufficiently to match the one that was destroyed by the plague), or it could be setting, which declares the end of the world, the calamity, the apocalypse, whatever you wish to call it.

Appearance: 3
I'm not saying that I dislike the cover, but I think that more effort could have been made towards the 3D buildings. Was the artist going for a minimalist 3D style? Because if so, then the artist should be severely dissuaded from attempting such an artistic cross-over. I have yet to see 3D-rendered art in minimalism. However, what makes the cover rather pleasant are the three primary colors working together.

Attention: 3
Again, like with Hesperus' cover, it's probably the colors that make the cover somwhat usual -- there is nothing striking or crass enough in contrast to garner attention.

Innovation: 4
Although it may not grab attention, I have to admit that the cover is quite innovative. This may or may not be on account of my never having seen similar 3D artwork on a book cover before. As far as I know, it's not a thing in scifi lit, though I'm not sure about other genres.

Plot-likeness: 4
The cover leaves little doubt as to what it's alluding to plot-wise. It shares this aspect with Hesperus' cover -- their cover artists were clever fellows, so kudos to them.

Oh, have you kept in mind that this title, as with Hesperus' title, is NOT red? Good. Here comes the reason.

Note the color of the title.
Now note the color of the background.
Notice any similarities? THEY'RE BOTH RED. Devil on a cracker, why use red font against red? They're different shades, thank goodness, but nonetheless I ask myself: why??

And if you are thinking that I'm over-reacting, let me tell you: this is not a one-time occurrence. If it was, then I would only be mildly upset in an amused way, instead of being irritated in a non-amusing angrish way.

Guess who else thought that red against red was a good artistic decision?

Well, apparently Gloria Mundi also thought that red serif font against a red-tinted picture was a fantastic idea. Cue Winnie the Pooh smacking his face and saying "Oh bother...", because this really bothers me to hell and back. There is little in the world that annoys me more than the title being the same color as its background.

Now that I've said that, I'm probably going to commit this crime in the future myself. I have harped enough on this art crime, so let's continue with the article.

This cover is from feedbooks, and while it isn't terrible, it strikes me as very "meh". The font is an elongated serif type, which produces memories of the  bygone age, to which we modern-day folk tend to attribute such fonts.
The red tint is obviously an allusion to the ever-present scarlet plague, and--
wait a minute.
Hello! There is something oddly familiar about this bridge. If I remember correctly from Carmen Sandiago's geography lessons, this looks a lot like Golden Gate Bridge!
In fact, it looks a lot like Golden Gate Bridge from the first photos that Google Images has to offer. It's the same angle, you see.

...what I want to say is that the cover has a landmark of San Francisco on it, which clearly references the settings of the story, namely in San Francisco. Okay, cover, you'll get bonus points for this, I promise.

But, uh. Erm.

What in the name of Callico County is that? At first I thought it was a giant submarine, but then I saw the jagged rocks on the shore of this supposed submarine, and I became thoroughly clueless. Is it another San Francisco landmark that has flown over my head utterly and completely?
It's probably a shore of some sort. I think. I guess.
Actually I still don't know.

Anyways, ratings!

Appearance: 2
It is a red-tinted photograph of San Francisco with fog clouding up some of the corners. I don't think it was that difficult to produce this, even if it isn't terribly bad-looking.

Attention: 3
It sticks out like a sore thumb because it is a sore thumb. The red on red makes it almost an eye-sore, but I won't be so harsh on the poor, innocent cover. The all-redness of the cover definitely garners attention.

Innovation: 3
I was close to giving it a 1, because RED ON RED IS APPARENTLY COMMONLY USED NOWADAYS. But I decided against it, because really, in the end, this is a pretty unique cover. Dystopian Golden Gate Bridge is not something that is seen every day on a book.

Plot-likeness: 3
Whoopie, Golden Gate Bridge! So much San Francisco in just one landmark! And the story takes place in San Francisco!

There's just one problem. Jack London wrote the story in 1912. Golden Gate Bridge finished construction in 1937. In London's story, Golden Gate Bridge does not exist, not even as a rumor. Although, if you ignore the date of the story's conception, then the bridge would indeed be in existence (the plague started spreading around 2012). So I changed my initial 2 points to a 3, pretending that London was an oracle of sorts and had foreseen the bridge 25 years before it was completed. Jack London was the closest person turn-of-the-century Americans had for a real-life Saxton Hale,  so it isn't hard to imagine that he was secretly an infrastructural phrophet.

After all: Wireless messages being sent through the air? Clever, Mr. London, very clever.

In fact, I'll give you a high five for your cleverness.