Cover Art for Monster Hunter International: Baen Edition

Cover art for Monster Hunter International, by Larry Correia.  Cover art by Alan Pollack.  www.alanpollack.com  Coming in 2009 from Baen Books.

I just got this today.  Alan did an awesome job.  For those of you who’ve read the book, this is a scene from aboard the French freighter, Antoine Henri, off the coast of Georgia.   

It is kind of cool as a writer to see the interpretation of something from your imagination by a professional artist for a book cover.  I take it back, it isn’t kinda cool, it is damn cool.

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21 thoughts on “Cover Art for Monster Hunter International: Baen Edition”

  1. It’s good. My first thought was to bitch because it doesn’t show Abomination, but I guess Owen didn’t have it yet on the freighter.

    I still like the old one better. I hope they find a place to work in the patch.

    Hey . . . . . is it going to be illustrated?

  2. Who is that supposed to be on the cover? He looks too scrawny to be Owen.

    Also, I think Julie’s knife is a bit too large. Being cut off on the edge, it looks like she has a full-blown sword, which is just cheesy.

  3. Ejection port is on the wrong side! The end of the magazine tube looks like another barrel, and so does the light.

    I know it sounds like I’m nitpicking, but I think the cover should be worthy of the book. Look – John Ringo got it right, Stephen Hunter got it right, and Larry most certainly gets his gun stuff right, why can’t the cover artist?

  4. As far as the artwork itself, I think it looks pretty darn good. Love the background artwork on the tanker corridor and the armor in particular.

    A couple minor technical gripes to add to the mix: They really should have filled in the hole at the end of the mag tube extension. It looks like Owen’s wielding an over and under (and left-handed, no less) pump; Did the image get mirrored before including the “MHI” on chest and gloves? That’d explain the left hand ejection port and left hand usage; Julie’s not wearing her goggles. Very minor complaint as far as I’m concerned; Agree with RDN, Julie’s knife does look like a sword. I think the oversize crossguard at the hilt plays a role in that, too.

    On the whole, I personally preferred the original’s cover art. But hey, I’ve already got mine and, as much as I hate to say this, the new cover art will probably help sell more books, technical errors and all.

  5. I love it. Looks good and dramatic. Very heroic. This is actually pretty much what I expected when I heard Allan was going to do the art.

    Larry – make sure you don’t give your movie rights away, and you have the stipulation that you will retain rights to Technical Direction or the like so that they don’t Battlefield Earth your book.

  6. As a demanding and unreasonable fan of the book, here are my complains.
    The guy looks too cute IMHO. Maybe less Brad Pitt and more Ron Pearlman? The sword has to go and the body armor looks more like something out of Starship Troopers than Blackhawk Industries. Needs to have lots of MOLLE and pouches everywhere to carry ammo! And add one more complaint for the shotgun.
    I do love the ship passages.. gloomy yet visible.

  7. The chick looks a tad too nonchalant, what with her rifle so casually propped up on her shoulders (where’s the sling?), when there are undead still moving about on the floor nearby.

    Also, holding a severed head in one hand will still engaged in combat may look bad-ass, but it would probably interfere with pumping and reloading the pump shotgun.

    Loved the book, by the way! (The wife enjoyed it, too!) Looking forward to the sequel!

  8. Heh. Very damned cool. Looks like Alan was channelling just a leeeeetle Mal Reynold’s in the lead character’s hairstyle.

    I never did a character cover for Baen – I’m more hardware and ‘splosions than anything else – so I’m deeply impressed by anyone who can sling a paintbrush and do humans and creatures this way.

  9. Dave beat me to it… Owen is not nearly ugly or big enough. Aside from those nitpicks – very cool!

    I’m feeling the urge to re-read MHI… again.

  10. Isn’t the armor supposed to be very specifically not black? And the cocky pretty boy face…I mean, if that’s supposed to be Grant, then OK, but that’s not Owen…

    It looks pretty badass, and I’d buy it based on the jacket and that cover, but as someone who read the book in a night and then encouraged all my friends to buy it, I pictured it somewhat differently.

  11. Hey waiting big time for BAEN to get the book out.
    Cowtown Cop wants it too. In fact he has asked for some one big and burly to ensure that you git yur done.
    I like the cover too, we need a poster and a patch from you.

  12. “I mean, have you SEEN what they put on the cover of a lot of David Drake’s books?”

    David Drake wrote about that once. The cover is designed solely to get people’s attention, not to reflect the contents of the book.

    This looks like a typical Baen cover, which means it’s pretty kick butt.

  13. All the above nitpicks are also mine, but, honestly, I forgive Allan, because I know he’s used to drawing sorcerers and dragons, not guns and kevlar. (Yeah, hopeless Magic player here…)
    While I know you want to show their faces, I was curious as to why they aren’t wearing their helmets, either. Oh well, I guess showing off the perdy mugs comes before that kind of realism, huh?
    Pollack, along with most fantasy artists, have a style guide to work off of. Meaning they already know exactly what everything and everyone is supposed to looks like, etc. I am assuming Larry didn’t make an MHI style guide (Though, man would I kill for one!), so I think Allan did a very nice job.
    And the book still kicks ass.

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