The Toronto Star looks at efforts by romance publisher Harlequin Enterprises to retool its recently launched Rogue Angel series, which includes hiring comics artist Tim Bradstreet to illustrate the covers.
The title, which features a Lara Croft-like female protagonist, is part of Harlequin’s “male-friendly” Gold Eagle imprint:
… starting with the ninth title in the series, they went to Bradstreet, a man incapable of producing typical romance or chick-lit work. His previous efforts include dozens of covers for the violent comics Hellblazer and The Punisher, for DC and Marvel Comics respectively.
Photos shot Friday will provide the base for Bradstreet’s photo-realistic art. For any author but Stephen King, Bradstreet said, a book cover is vital. After all, he said, it took legendary fantasy-sci-fi artist Frank Frazetta – Bradstreet’s personal hero – to revive the nearly forgotten work of Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian.
Note: That’s not a Bradstreet cover pictured. As far as I can tell, the ninth title in the series won’t be released until November.
