Ellie- No offense meant to you and I was specifically saying "other red tape" meaning all the budget concerns, etc., in addition to getting the marketing team on board with this idea. I wasn't calling you red tape, I promise.

I'm simply acknowledging that it takes a particular personality to succesfully and brilliantly maneuver in the two worlds of creating/designing and marketing/sales (though each should always consider the other and I'm an advocate for the designer's fundamental responsibility to the client and the target market, not to their own sensibilities). As someone who freelances with various publishers, large and small, as well as being Art Director here at Fantagraphics, I can tell you that it is not my experience that every marketing dept would jump at the chance to have cartoonists doing covers. There's a frequent concern that people would be confused by such a thing as a contemporary Chris Ware comic strip being the cover of a classic novel.

In fact, our recent prose novel by Monte Schulz features illustrations by Al Columbia in a comic-like format. And that generated no end of dialogue between Fantagraphics and our distributor and the various marketing/sales teams that people would think this was a graphic novel. Seems simple-- we have this amazing cartoonist who will do the cover art-- but nothing is ever quite that simple and everyone has concerns that have to be considered.

What I wouldn't be surprised to see is this Penguin idea being approved but diluted-- for example, Jason's flap comics on "Dharma Bums" being axed for having a point of view, a voice that isn't that of Jack Kerouac's. And I could see that point of view, frankly, and I might not press the point where it appears that Paul Buckley and Helen Yentus were able to translate this concept into something that the marketing/sales/etc teams could get on board with. That's all. Brilliant and tenacious.

All that said, I will say that I'm making assumptions about the process and celebrating the Art Director when, truth is, that's a bit black and white-- I have no doubt that Penguin has an exceptional and forward-thinking marketing/sales team based on their history. But I just meant this as a quick and dirty post so please allow me to perhaps inordinately praise the designers for the sake of designerly camaraderie. A drink bought at the internet bar.

Jacob