Buyer's Remorse: Dazzler

Bill Sienkiewicz's Cover for
The New Mutants (vol.1) Issue #18

I was a young comic collector when Marvel first published The New Mutants, and I quickly grew to admire Bill Sienkiewicz's run on the series.

"Claremont gave the series a darker tone, which was heightened with the arrival of artist Bill Sienkiewicz.

"Sienkiewicz's avant garde art style and painted covers broke though the conventional comic book boundaries of the day and helped The New Mutants stand out on the shelf" (source).

Bill Sienkiewicz's Art on Page #1
of Issue #18

I particularly loved Sienkiewicz's art on The Demon Bear issues featuring Danielle Moonstar (upon which, apparently, the upcoming New Mutants movie is based).

There is good art, and then there is astounding art, and Sienkiewicz' art on The New Mutants was the latter.

In my youthful naivete, however, I initially assumed that the art on the cover of a comic was by the same artist as the art on the inside of the magazine.

Bill Sienkiewicz's Cover for
Dazzler: The Movie (1982)

Under this assumption, I purchased the Marvel Graphic Novel Dazzler: The Movie.

Page #1 from Dazzler: The Movie

Imagine my dismay going from intense, dark, & brooding Sienkiewicz on the outside to the Barbie doll depiction of Alison Blaire by Frank Springer on the inside.

I made this assumption far too many times in my youth. Here's a Beauty & the Beast example (starring Dazzler and the Beast from the X-Men):

(Sienkiewicz Outside/Don Perlin Inside)

Bill Sienkiewicz's Cover for
Beauty & the Beast (1985) #1

Interior Art from Issue #1 of
Beauty & the Beast (1985)

I finally did learn to flip open every mag I hoped to purchase, but back in the days of mail order subscriptions, one didn't have the option to peruse the interiors as one has online now. And, there just weren't that many comic book shops around to visit in person.

Still, there's a part of me that wishes the exteriors and interiors on each issue would match, if not by the same artist, at least in the same artistic style. I always feel a little conned when I love the cover of a book by a different artist (whom I may not like).