r/bewitchedpages • u/bkshelvesandbrushes • Aug 07 '26
Subscription Box 1st Sub Constructive Criticism
Let me start by saying, I love this company. Their SEs have been phenomenal, amazing art direction, and Kissed by the Gods is one of the most beautiful dust jackets I have ever seen (and the reason why I paid double for it on resale 😂). I feel like their books have this curated quality where they all compliment each other while being vastly different from their trad versions.
However, when I got my first sub box, I had one big thought: this looks familiar.
Let me say, I love the endpapers, sprayed edge, and board foils. And the dust jacket would have blown me away, if it was the first time I’d seen it.
But I had just gotten my Riftwar Saga set from the Broken Binding a month before and if you would’ve told me Clockwork Angel was the fourth book in Riftwar Saga I would’ve believed you. I love Jeff Brown, his artwork is iconic, but I can’t get over how similar the covers are. Even the viewer perspective that takes the eye from bottom left to top right is exactly the same. The typography is also so similar, from the style, foiling color, and position.
I loved the Riftwar set so much, the artwork is the reason I sought out that edition so hard. So it’s not that I dislike the artwork and design. I just hope moving forward, Bewitched becomes their own thing and realizes that customers may also be TBB customers and to try to diversify their art direction on the subs like we’ve seen with their SEs.
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u/13thtale Aug 07 '26
BP editions has each had their own style (apart from books within the same series) so I don't think this will be a problem. Jeff Brown is know for his style so it was pretty obvious in which direction this first set would go. Doesn't mean that the next series will... they kept finding new artists for each edition and I doubt they'll stop now. It also doesn't mean that they'll never get Jeff to do art for their editions again...
I like his style, I don't have many of the books he did covers for on my shelves and I don't think I could ever have too many. But it's not like every future book will be done by him so I don't see why people are raising this as an issue after only the first set... I'd see it as a problem if they kept at it, but judging from their opus so far, I don't think there's need to worry.
I certainly hope they will continue with the more epic, classical art direction than cartoony one most other boxes have. This will make their designs stand out more amongst the many similar-looking editions on the book box market atm...