On the one hand, I can understand the desire not to throw the "Honorverse virgin" readers by making changes in the first 5-issue arc ...
On the other hand, they did include the new uniforms in their design process bonuses, on page 31; which would be a total waste of a page if they didn't intend to do something about the uniforms in the near future.
On the gripping hand a large part of the race (if not gender) issue could be handled merely by a change of tincture to show different skin colors, which step is after the art has been drawn and inked, so may have been doable for issue #2; gender-mix and other racial phenotype markers than coloration could have to wait for issue #3, if the art was drawn (probably not inked) by the time they caught up with the problem. ... all of this is assuming Evergreen passed the word to Top Cow forthwith.
My WAG is that the uniforms will change (maybe gradually from issue to issue) within the first 5-issue arc, while they will wait for the second arc (tHotQ) before changing Nimitz and other parts for which they haven't released updated concept art (besides Nimitz such as Marine skinsuits with face-plates rather than -masks, ship-design updates, etc.).
That way it will look to the "casual reader" and "artist-centric reader" as if these updates are differences in artistic interpretation and expression between the different artists, rather than changes from on high being forced on the beloved artists of the latter.
Could save us from the bad press of quite a few vicariously hurt feelings.
yannosh wrote:Frankly I have to agree with the opinion that graphics should remain consistent, no matter how much I dislike the abomination they've made of Nimitz.
Once they finish OBS and change the artist, then the uniforms, ships, Nimitz, etc can/should be changed, with a foreword explaining that the new graphical design was used to be more in line with the books, and would continue to change and evolve.