Marvel's Mark Brooks Leads Fan Effort to Restore Corner Box Cover Art
The corner box art that helped define Marvel has become a relic of the comic book past, but artist Mark Brooks is using Twitter to change that.
Once upon a time, corner box art was a ubiquitous part of the Marvel Comics experience. Over the years, however, the artwork which appeared in the corner of the comic book has fallen out of fashion. However, artist Mark Brooks is leading the charge to bring it back.
Corner box art refers to the pieces of art which appear in the corner of comic book covers, usually in a series of squares. Before the industry's switch to direct market through comic book stores, comic books were sold everywhere from grocery stores to gas stations. They were usually sold on a spinner rack which, depending on the layout, might obscure most of the comic book. Thus, the corner box contained the issue number, price, and sometimes the Comic Book Code Authority stamp. It also usually included a small illustration of the book's core hero or team, to indicate which comic it was. Eventually, comic books left the spinner rack entirely, giving publishers more incentive to abandon the corner box art to maximize the cover art. While corner box art hasn't completely disappeared, they have typically only appeared sporadically in fan art or issues that homage the past.
Now, artist Mark Brooks has taken to Twitter to call for a return to corner box art. He's posted several times on the social media platform with examples of the corner box art, asking fans to like and share his Tweets. He's also posted examples of what his own corner box art would look like, highlighting characters like Black Cat, Wolverine, and Clone Troopers. Brooks is now the subject of several hashtags including #cornerboxcrusade and #LetMarkCornerBox.
A return to corner box art could have several advantages. First of all, it could appeal to older comic book fans, adding a sense of nostalgia to how comic books looked before the comic book store boom. Secondly, corner box art could make it somewhat easier for traditional retailers like grocery store checkouts to start carrying comic books once again. While there are several factors that were responsible for comic books' exit from the checkout line, the addition of a few cosmetic flourishes would at least it easier for comics to blend back into a display rack at a convenience store.
Ultimately, if fans want Mark Brooks to draw corner box art, it seems more than likely Marvel - or another major publisher - will find an excuse for Brooks to draw some corner box superheroes. But it remains to be seen if corner box art will be a temporary gig or an industry-changing trend.