Good. We’re sci-fi too.

Glad you haven’t crit’d Issue #3!

The digests’ design collectively strikes me as amatuerish, which might have more to do with the fact that it hasn’t changed in twenty years than with any lack of skill on the designers’ part. I tend to like the space scenes because the other covers are so frequently awful. (See Analog and F&SF.) Is the turnaround time too short, or the pay too low…? I see great stuff on deviantART and I wonder, “Why not this?”

You’re quite right about the readability on F&SF — what is that, Impact? Not good for distances, and I always wonder about the creativity of designers who use the standard typefaces you get with Windows and/or Office. Analog gets points for readability. Asimov’s… just… *facepalm* If I didn’t know better, the bright!happy!colors! would make me think it’s aimed at children.

Clarkesworld always looks fantastic. The classic typeface reminds me of a museum catalog. I get the impression that the publishers respect both the cover art and the content… that, to put it another way, they don’t feel they need to tart things up. I wish this were on newsstands; it’d put the others to shame.

Shimmer usually looks great, too. The title does get a little lost on this issue. However, the eyes are arresting. Very classy.

The Black Static cover absolutely screams, “Literary journal!” — and makes me want to skip it for that reason. The art is a big yawn. The red-orange color does hint at conflict, but mentally I’ve already moved on.

That sidebar on Interzone looks like it belongs inside the magazine as a TOC. Here it detracts from the art, which is lovely. The SFnal title doesn’t play well on this particular cover; I think if they go with more fantasy-themed art, they’d do better to use a classic typeface.

The Murky Depths title looks… well, murky. It suits the art, though.

Realms needs a refresher course in readability. They seriously need to choose one typeface — one that can be read from six feet away — and stick with it. I don’t think the green circle would bother me that much if it weren’t for that damned Celtic lettering. However, it blends so well with the art that I didn’t even notice it until you mentioned it, so it’s not doing its job.

I saw this cover of Weird Tales a while ago and went, “Oooh!” Somebody knows what s/he’s doing. Memo to Realms: this is how you get my attention. It’s called contrast. Look into it.

Of the magazines you didn’t mention, I think Subterranean is the only one that has grabbed my attention with a striking layout. Black Gate started out well with its first three or four issues despite an awful title design, but every issue I’ve seen since has made me want to weep.

Clarkesworld is an online magazine, so you won’t find us on the newsstand. The cover art will see print as part of a 100 copy signed chapbook containing the two pieces of fiction from that issue. It never occurred to me that someone would get a comic book vibe from the art, but I guess I can see where you’re coming from. I don’t think you’ll get that impression next month.