TOW #3: Look Who's Back (Visual Text)

As often as I have been told not to judge a book by its cover, the cover of Look Who’s Back deserves an award. The front is matte white with a swath of shiny black in the shape of a hairline near the top. The title—capitalized, bold, black letters—occupies a tight rectangular region, if a full face were to be pictured, between the nose and mouth. The author’s name is at the top in red, not particularly emphasized, as he was previously a shadow-writer, not someone well-known who would sell books with just his name.

The use of striking black against contrasting white helps to focus the potential reader’s attention upon the distinctive hairline, arousing curiosity about its purpose, before being drawn down to the title, Look Who’s Back. The short title offers little information about the book, except that someone has returned. It is unpunctuated, leaving the answer to a viewer’s inevitable question “Who is back?” open-ended, something to be answered by the viewer, not the author.  Slowly, one comes to the realization that the hairline is that of Adolf Hitler, and the title, in its little rectangular form, is his iconic mustache. The audience must be curious and analytical, as only such an audience would be drawn to consider the cover of the book. The cover-art is well thought out, as the book itself would appeal to such group. A political satire, it comments on media’s dominating role in society in combination with historical input from main character Hitler. However, it takes someone willing to think to understand Hitler’s implications and their modern relevance to appreciate the book.
To establish the tone of the piece, once a potential reader has discovered the shadow of Hitler on the front—which might itself symbolize that a twenty-first century Führer could be lurking in the shadows, either in the form of a human or new in forms of media that control modern lives—the back cover appeals to pathos through humor. It reads: “He’s back [...] and he’s Führious.” The silly pun makes the potential reader interested in a humorous piece. Though faced with a subject that seems serious, the use of a pun makes its satirical nature clear from the start.

Note: I discovered this book in Nuremberg, Germany. I bought it because it was ironically in a bookstore one bus ride away from the Nazi rally grounds. I have not finished it due to lack of time, but it is rather funny so far. Hitler addresses a modern youth playing soccer (whose mother obviously must have sewn his name onto the back of his Hitler Youth uniform) as "Hitler Youth Ronaldo." It was funny because soccer is now Germany's most popular sport, but the fictional Hitler was confused by a soccer jersey.