Episodic Content Issue 02: Long Live MK Cover Art Reveal
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Welcome to Episodic Content, my newsletter in which I share news about my writing and publish features and interviews about video games and other topics. Today, I'm thrilled and proud to reveal the first of two collectible covers for Long Live Mortal Kombat: Round 1, the first book in my trilogy about the making of Mortal Kombat games and the culture surrounding them. I've also got news to share regarding Kool Stuff, the online companion book to Long Live MK. Without further ado, let's get started.
Book Cover
Last year, I met a fantastic cover artist called Adrian Doan Kim Carames. We began our working relationship when I contracted Adrian to paint a cover for an upcoming fantasy novel for young adults. After that, I commissioned him to paint two covers for Monsters in the Dark, my book about the making of the original X-COM game for PC.
Working with Adrian is fantastic. He's got plenty of ideas but is open to following creative direction, and his covers perfectly capture the mood of my books. For Long Live Mortal Kombat, I had a vision in mind, and he nailed it, as expected. You can scroll down if you want to get to the finished cover, but for those interested in the behind-the-scenes process, I've documented Adrian's and my correspondence to show how the cover took shape.
The first stage of the process was communicating a vision to Adrian. Here's what I sent him:
My vision for this cover is of an arcade that's dark and disused. Cabinets line the walls, but their screens are off, their speakers are silent, and they're collecting dust and cobwebs. But at the very back of the arcade, we see one cabinet with its screen brightly lit. That cabinet is, of course, Mortal Kombat. I want to convey this without showing any character from the games. For instance, perhaps the bottom half of the cabinet is frozen—Sub-Zero's ice—and Scorpion spear/whip dangles from the marquee with blood dripping off the spear tip.
Much of this book follows the paths of fans who grew up playing games in arcades and miss that environment. They still play arcade games, but online through emulators. It's fun, but for them, there's no substitute for walking into an arcade and being surrounded by the scents of cigarette smoke and greasy pizza hanging in the air, the crash of screams, grunts, and explosions emanating from dozens of speakers, and the bright gleam of dozens of screens.
For the next step, the ball was in Adrian's court. He drafted concept illustrations and sent them to me for feedback. Here are the illustrations he sent:
I decided on draft A. The cover is "first-person," looking through your eyes as you set foot in an arcade located somewhere in a shopping mall. This part of the vision was special to me. I rarely played in standalone arcades as a kid. My two favorites were located in two shopping malls, one near my mom's house and the other near where my dad lived. Adrian's "A" draft evoked the magic of rushing into one of those arcades. From a functionality standpoint, I needed to show the walls and floor outside of the arcade because it gave us space for text such as the author name, title, subtitle, subtitle, and publisher logo.
My only hang-up was that the walls were too big, as if you were standing farther outside the arcade. I wanted to bring the reader—you—closer because that would allow Adrian to draw larger cabinets.
I wanted to revise the back cover's imagery as well. It showed two control panels, each with a 3x2 arrangement of buttons, like Street Fighter II. I wanted the layout to evoke Mortal Kombat, which meant an "X" layout with MK3's run button below of the "X."
My last request was thematic. Rather than a regular (boring) publisher logo, I thought of putting the logo on a token and setting the token on the arcade cabinet's dash; if you grew up in arcades, you know that putting your quarter on the dash was your way of reserving your spot in line. Often, you'd say, "I got next" as you put your quarter or token in place. Next to the token, I asked Adrian to put a ticket bearing the publisher's name.
Finally, here's the magnificent result:
I love this cover. It evokes nostalgia for the arcade era of Mortal Kombat, and for arcades in general; and it combines functionality with thematic elements: Neon lights for the title and subtitle, and the token and ticket identifying the publisher.
The digital (eBook) edition will only show the front. The paperback and hardcover editions show off the full image, plus the synopsis I wrote last week. Here's that synopsis:
Before Mortal Kombat offended politicians, flooded arcades with blood, and sold over 12 million units (and counting), executives at Midway saw it as filler—a stopgap between more promising games like NBA Jam.
Ed Boon and John Tobias, Mortal Kombat's co-creators, saw their game differently. But not even they could have imagined the phenomenon Mortal Kombat would become when it hit arcades in October 1992, or the controversy that would follow in its wake.
What politicians viewed as a menace to society, arcade goers embraced as a way of life. From dedicated hustlers who put thousands of miles on their odometer driving coast to coast to take on the best in every arcade they could find, to fans who devote their free time to collecting action figures, setting world records, and plumbing the depths of the franchise's lore, Mortal Kombat has topped sales charts for 30 years—and its popularity shows no signs of waning.
Based on extensive interviews,
Long Live Mortal Kombat: Round 1
chronicles the arcade era of the video game industry's most infamous fighting franchise, the creative and technical hurdles its team had to clear, and the fans whose passion has made Mortal Kombat a pillar of popular culture.
Make sure you follow Adrian and send him some love for the Long Live MK: Round 1 cover! He knocked it out of the park.
Cover for Ultimate Long Live MK: Round 1
There will be two editions of Long Live Mortal Kombat: Round 1. The first edition will be available in paperback, digital formats, and hardcover, and will exhibit the cover art shown here. The second edition, Ultimate Long Live Mortal Kombat: Round 1, will only be available in an oversized hardcover, and will contain lots of pictures and photographs unavailable in the standard edition.
We're offering two editions for two reasons. First, printing costs add up quickly; the first, or "standard" edition will contain very few pictures and photos, and will be in black and white to keep printing costs reasonable. The Ultimate edition will go all out with a lavish layout and dozens of screenshots, photos, and more. The story told in both books is the same, but if you're a collector, you'll want the Ultimate edition on your shelf.
I'll do another cover art reveal and breakdown when Adrian has finished the Ultimate edition's artwork.
About Long Live MK
Long Live Mortal Kombat: Round 1 – The Fatalities and Fandom of the Arcade Era is the massive (approximately 205,000 words) first installment of the "LLMK" series. The book covers the arcade era of the franchise, from the genesis (pun intended) of the first MK through MK4's revision 3.0 update in arcades.
Long Live MK comprises four sections, one for each of the four main installments of the series' arcade era. Every section features several types of chapters:
· making-of sections written based on deep research and lengthy interviews with developers such as John Tobias and folks from Acclaim, as well as high-level players who break down each game's mechanics;
· arcade sections where you'll hear firsthand from individuals who pumped tens of thousands of quarters into coin-op cabinets; and
· kommunity-oriented sections that share the stories of fans whose lives were changed by Mortal Kombat, and in many cases, through the bonds they've formed with one another.
I've interviewed over 60 individuals to write Long Live MK: Round 1, and you'll hear from all of them. You'll also share in their passion for MK by reading their stories and getting a look at pictures from their collection that they were kind enough to share with me.
Long Live MK will be available in print and digital formats later this year, and promises to be the most comprehensive exploration of Mortal Kombat in any medium, ever.
Kool Stuff Begins in Issue 03
If you love MK and want to know as much about the franchise and its creators as possible, you'll want to read Kool Stuff a book of bonus content that acts as a companion book to Long Live MK: Round 1. It's free to everyone and will be published in Episodic Content, and it begins in the next issue.
Kool Stuff will be published in paperback and in digital editions. Those will cost an as-yet-undetermined amount, but the version published here will always be free to read.
Wrapping Up
That brings issue 02 of Episodic Content to a close. If you haven't subscribed to Episodic Content yet, make sure you click the link below, and share this issue with your friends, especially if they're Mortal Kombat fans.