Halo or No Halo, That is the Question

So, based on feedback, I’m coming out with a clean version of Really Terrible Bible Stories vol. 1: Genesis. It’ll have all the naughty words replaced with ones suitable for delicate ears, so that it can be safely recommended to anti-cursing fundie types. I’ve whipped up a new cover for it, and would like to get your impressions, my darlings.

What do you think, halo?

Image shows the cover of RTBS vol. 1: Genesis (Clean Version). The background is a pale creme yellow. The painting is Francis Denaby's The Deluge, which shows a lot of people trying to swim and crawl onto a high black rock in a dark blue tumultuous flood. Lettering is in gold and red. There is a halo over the C in Clean Version.
Avec halo

Or no halo?

Image is same as previous, with the halo removed.
Sans halo

Hope you like one or both!

And no, I probably didn’t need to change the cover illustration, but I stumbled across this Francis Denaby painting when I was looking for something else, and fell in love. I had to have it! So I changed everything up.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I gotta go back to watching Steven Universe while I put fig leaves on all the naughty bits in the interior illustrations.

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Halo or No Halo, That is the Question
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15 thoughts on “Halo or No Halo, That is the Question

  1. 1

    Ha! I spent like 5 minutes poring over every detail of the painting in both covers, looking for this “halo” of which you wrote. I could not see a halo in either painting; you must have uploaded the same image twice!

    Then, like the proverbial snake, it bit me.

    And I gotta vote “halo”.

  2. 2

    It’s the halo over the ‘C’ in ‘Clean’ I suppose.
    Since your stated aim is to protect sensitive bits of fundies, I would suggest that without is better. (Though I like the fact that it immediately reminded me of Good Omens)

  3. 5

    Ja, you betcha! There’s no way I’m taking the salty versions off the market! Atheists, liberal religious folk, and ex-fundies need their naughty words. So there’ll be regular and clean versions of each volume going forward.

  4. 6

    Good! :-)

    This reminds me of one of those spot-the-differences cartoons in a paper or kids fun book only with less differences! I guess I’d say the halo doesn’t really add that much to the cover so I’d be inclined to lose it and go with the second but fine with both.

  5. 11

    I dislike the halo. Stylistically it’s out of place as it has a different coloring than the letters and it narrows the gap between the two lines in a way that really annoys me (for comparison, in Good Omens the halo is the same color as the rest of the letters and it doesn’t break line cohesion because it’s on the top-most line and because the “o” underneath it is smaller than the other letters).
    Also I agree with richardelguru #2 – if you want to protect their feelings its best to leave such things out.

  6. 13

    I can take the halo or leave it. However, something about the line “Clean Version” rubs me the wrong way. Not sure exactly what it is I don’t like, though.

    Possible alternative: “Bowdlerized For Your Protection”.

  7. 15

    I love it that the halo is over the C in Clean. It just seems really cheeky. To me it makes mock of the idea that some people think some words are clean and some are dirty. That may not be the intent, but that’s what I got out of it.
    The fact that some people think the word “shit” in any context is worse than their evil, petty, sky tyrant’s penchant for murder, mayhem, plagues, butchery, incest, and rape says quite a bit about those folks. So yeah, a bit of cheek regarding what they think is clean is right on the money.

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