A while back Jason Gardner shared a bit about some of his favorite cover art in recent memory and asked his readers to share theirs. Well, in keeping with his request, and modifying it slightly, here are my favorite covers and the reasons I like them.
Album: Stephen the Levite — To Die is Gain
This is a powerful image. It’s a cartoon, but not childish in any way. The light beaming down directly on the man about to be stoned while just missing the crowd still covered in shadows tells so much of the story of sin, salvation, and discipleship.
Book: Bart Ehrman — How Jesus Became God
This cover is crude in many respects. It’s a crude drawing in the sense that it’s a step or two above stick figures, but that’s what makes it so appealing. It’s like a cave painting. But the imagery itself is crude in the sense of being offensive. The men who have constructed the idol Jesus are now climbing the ladder to place what appear to be beams of light, or radiating glory one might say, above Jesus’ head. Ehrman’s whole spiel about Jesus’ exaltation to Godhood by men is crude and offensive. But man, what a nice looking book cover!
Film: None
To be honest, I can’t think of a DVD/Blu-ray cover that has grabbed my attention, like ever. Sadly, they’re all basically the same. Place a picture of the star(s) of the film on the cover with some city or explosion in the background, add a tag line, and you’re done. It’s really pretty sad.
Song: Marilyn Manson — Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
The original by the Eurythmics is one of my favorite songs of all time. I’ve had it as one of my phone’s ringtones for years (long before I had anything even approaching a smartphone). Marilyn Manson’s cover of the song captures the original feel while adding a little more creepiness and and a lot more edge to it. If I had to pick between the two I’d pick the original because the added oomph detracts from the song’s monotone brilliance, but it’s still done really well. For the record, I never liked the video, which is full of what are supposed to be disturbing images. I’ve never been disturbed by them but not being disturbed isn’t enough to make me find it visually appealing.
B”H
Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth 
One this is for sure, Ehrman’s book cover communicates his thesis effectively and its rather crude construction is quite nice, though obviously the message I can’t affirm!