The Warlock of Firetop Mountain: Judging by the Covers

     Here comes book one. The 1982 classic that started it all:

Oh, sweet Merlin 

A Cover Letter:

     I'll be pulling my excerpts from this book off of a scan of the 1984 edition. Partly because I want to represent the early print runs, but mostly because I'm having trouble finding digital editions. This comes from one of Puffin Books's 1985 print runs. I won't lie, the lines of the bent cover are really taking me back to pulling this book's descendants from the library shelves. Worn and torn with the adventures of those mysterious readers who had come before, sometimes the whole spine broken and the innards spilling out. The books were worn and weathered, and ready for more.

     The art is fine, but it doesn't really grab my eyes. It just doesn't 'pop'. The dragon is a mixed bag. Body seems way too thin compared to the head to feel particularly big and strong, but I love those scowling eyes and the long sinuous tongue. The warlock mostly just looks high. I quite like the crystal ball and the rainbow mist that forms into the dragon. Very evocative of a magical summoning. Puts me in mind of The Page Master film.

Forgive his grumpiness, it's been ages since his last visitor.

     The back cover is unimpressive, but highly informative. It tells you that you'll need dice, a pencil and an eraser, and then a summary of what to expect. The only things I really want to comment on are the poor choice of green on green for the tagline text, and the claim of an "elaborate combat system". Elaborate is very much not the appropriate adjective, as we will see. You'll notice they emphasize the idea of dying and replaying even in the blurb. Really needed to get that across to the audience.

I feel like the text is doing its take for a composite shot.

     The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is of historical and nostalgic significance to the line, and as such has gotten a fair number of reprints. Let's take just a moment to look at some variants. In 2003 we got this gem published by Wizard Books. A nice stylistic update with the same basic shape. Bombastic title text and a roaring dragon made of swirling light really brings the power. Shame that over the last twenty one years the warlock has lost any facial expression, and aged backwards into a bland ponce. I love how his shoulders are so out of whack they don't look like they belong to the same person, but his neck remains perfectly straight. I'm not a big fan of the color palette either. Anyone who has the epitaph 'of Firetop Mountain' needs to be an autumn.

Young man, please step aside, you're hiding the Warlock!

     In 2009 Wizard Books blessed us with another reprint and... oh dear...

Put on your 3D glasses, so he can yank them off.

     Wow... that's just... Well, at least the warlock has an expression. What art there is is good, it's just that the motif strips it of character. I don't know why Wizard Books decided that the appropriate way to grab readers attention was to have main antagonists leaning out of a metal window, but this is how their 2nd print series tended to go. Not that it was the first reformatting for a recognizable serial look hurt the aesthetic. After all, the original 1982 cover looked like this:

Seems they finished the composite shot 3 years early.

     This wrap around, without blocky green borders, really works for me. Colors are a bit more faded, but it gives it a nice blend. My favorite variant, however, probably belongs to the 2017 Scholastic edition:

Sure, he looks completely different, but the warlock has returned to his stoned roots.

     Just look at those colors pop. Those warped hands full of enigmatic starlight. That dragon made of fire emblazoned before the towering mountain. The hero tagline is punched right up, and the FF brand feels like a seal of approval. It even gets the title down below where it won't compete with the dragon or the mountain looming over you. Oh, yeah, and it has the mountain right there. It's only in the book's title, after all! Climbing the blasted thing is the story.

     It really is nice to see all these editions and covers. Gives a feel of respect for the endurance of the book within. These aren't even the only covers. Variations exist for the Warlock of Firetop Mountain board and video games. It really has gotten around.

     I am so ready to delve inside!

"Oh, man, I think I hot boxed myself..."

     Give me a moment. Just... just...

So this is what Puff looked like after
"green scales fell like rain". 

    I mean no offense to Russ Nicholson, but that dragon is not the way to start off your adventure. It looks like it has a cold. Or is mildly concussed. Its neck is turning at such a lazy angle the poor dragon looks half asleep. The wings are too forward and bent at almost ninety degrees, in a way that just looks painful. And to cap it all off, the squat proportions of the body remind me of nothing so much as a chubby bulldog. I'm sorry, but I just laugh whenever I see it.

     Please, give me a moment to adopt my serious face and press on.