Evolution of the SIDEKICKS Jacket

About SIDEKICKS by Jack D. Ferraiolo

Batman has Robin, Wonder Woman has Wonder Girl, and Phantom Justice has Bright Boy, a.k.a. Scott Hutchinson, an ordinary schoolkid by day and a superfast, superstrong sidekick by night, fighting loyally next to his hero.

But after an embarrassing incident involving his too-tight spandex costume, plus some signs that Phantom Justice may not be the good guy he pretends to be, Scott begins to question his role. With the help of a fellow sidekick, once his nemesis, Scott must decide if growing up means being loyal or stepping boldly to the center of things.

Sidekicks, here is a project that I thought would be easy. After all its comics related and I spent a good portion of my high school career face down in them (nerd!). So this should be a no brainer! Wrong. The problem turned out to be I was thinking to much. Stupid me. Here is a little tale of the Sidekicks cover.

After seeing Kick-Ass I really wanted this book to have a similar design approach. If not just totally ripping off the branding. Horrible to admit but true. My admiration would be followed soon with problems.

Only difference we didn't have actors so I enlisted Greg Horn to start work on sketches of our hero. Greg had just finished work on Jack's other book The Big Splash which was now in paperback. ( For more on the evolution of The Big Splash in hard cover by Nathan Fox click here)

Below are the samples of Greg's work that won me over.

In Greg's first sketches we wanted to show a close up like the Kick-Ass posters but show be able to show the idea of puberty which our characters are battling through out the story.

With more detail . . .
. . . angrier . . . more braces!

A quick type sample for a sales meeting


After several meeting we were approved to go to final.

However, something was working. Was the Kick-Ass idea not translating? Yep! Just goes to show you when something works it might not work again in another context.

In a desperate attempt to save Greg Horn's fantastic painting. I started playing around with out compositions and type placements. As you can see the type is very rough. At this stage I will place rough type in to just get a since of composition. Later I will go in a finalize the look of the type.

A comment kept coming up that seeing the both Sidekicks was desired. But now what was this cover about? There seemed to be to much going on.

I moved the character in black (Monkeywrench) to the back cover and concentrated on making the cover work with just Bright Boy. The idea here is secret identity revealed.

But turns out this idea was also to busy. Even though I was really into the type layout.

Here are simpler composition, yet none really say anything about the book

Galley cover design

At this point we decide to start from scratch and enlist our old friend Joshua Middleton ( who illustrated the Jacket of the Unknowns) for help. Our new approach was how to show that he was a sidekick. Joshua immediately sent us sketches.

In the hero's shadow.

This approach like everything before was to conceptual. And in the end we just wanted a cover that was action packed. Like I do on many covers I wanted the type to be part of the illustration.

I asked Josh to have Bright Boy kicking the type. These are his takes on that suggestion.

Nice, but too much crotch.

Like every good superhero you need good branding. What to do with a lightning bolt symbol that Shazam and the Flash won't send there crack pot team of copyright layers after us. below is what we came up with

At this point we started going back to the idea of both Sidekicks on the cover. After all the title is SIDEKICKS plural.

Still to0 much crotch!


Now with less crotch!


Here is Joshua's color sketch
At this stage everything is coming together. Except the type.



Better but missing the author's name Do'h!


Full jacket design

Spot Gloss layer ( all the areas in black are gloss)

Case design

About the book

Batman has Robin, Wonder Woman has Wonder Girl, and Phantom Justice has Bright Boy, a.k.a. Scott Hutchinson, an ordinary schoolkid by day and a superfast, superstrong sidekick by night, fighting loyally next to his hero.

But after an embarrassing incident involving his too-tight spandex costume, plus some signs that Phantom Justice may not be the good guy he pretends to be, Scott begins to question his role. With the help of a fellow sidekick, once his nemesis, Scott must decide if growing up means being loyal or stepping boldly to the center of things.

Praise for Sidekicks
*STARRED REIVEW*
“Scott’s present-tense narration keeps pedal to the metal from start to finish, and readers will be quickly won over as the two super-strong, super-fast, super-likable protagonists face both inner conflicts and a Dark Knight–ish villain as deeply psychotic and scary as he is super powerful. Look for more twists than a pretzel factory and a possible sequel.” –Kirkus Reviews, starred review

*STARRED REVIEW*
“A delightfully clever take on superheroes with this unpredictable adventure. Engaging territory as Ferraiolo reveals the story’s true depths.” –Publishers Weekly, starred review

“An exciting, lightning-paced superhero plot that is also a thoughtful examination of superheroism.”
–The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“Ferraiolo starts the cape-flying action right from the opening pages. Ferraiolo is delightfully unafraid to inject irreverence into the superhero formula, adding plenty of humor to the high adventure high jinks.”
–Booklist

About the author

Jack D. Ferraiolo is the author of The Big Splash. He grew up in southern Connecticut and lives in northern Massachusetts. As the head of development at a children’s animation production company, he has developed and writes for WordGirl on PBS, for which he won an Emmy. Visit him online at www.jackferraiolo.com.

Authors: By Jack D. Ferraiolo
Imprint: Amulet Books
ISBN: 0-8109-9803-3
EAN: 9780810998032
Availability: In Stock
Publishing Date: 5/1/2011
Trim Size: 5 1/2 x 8 1/4
Page Count: 320
Cover: Hardcover with jacket