What The F- Is Happening Here

JohnnyBob submitted:

"Not a comics submission. A cheap and lurid western paperback series about a character called Edge found success in the 70's and 80's. They have been reissued as e-books with new covers. The original covers weren't great but some of the new ones make them look like fine art. This one is particularly notable for the appalling effect the events depicted have had the woman's legs. She's bearing up well though."

At first I thought the cover was old but no that's from 2016.  Just for comparison, I went and found the 1984 cover (the 2nd image) and wow it looks so much better.  Not just that the woman's leg isn't just cut and pasted on top of her body, but like the direction of everything makes so much more sense.  He's riding toward the action, shooting his gun as she looks on. 

In the new one, he's pointing the gun to the left, and looking to the right.  For some reason the horse is just running sideways behind them, and there's just random fire and explosions behind them.  The compositing of everything is just... a mess.

And yes, her leg is just hilarious... and is it turning into a loaf of bread at her feet or something?  What... is happening???  Did they just take a booted leg and photoshop it into the picture and then blurred it with skin-tone to try to make it look like a leg?

She also doesn't look like she's afraid of in danger like in the 1984 version, she looks bored... or stoned.  Maybe thinking about her life choice that led her to be in this mess of a cover.

I assume they really skimped on the art budget for the reissues.

(Cover of Edge #44: The Blind Side by George G. Gilman, 2016 cover published by LOBO Productions, 1984 cover published by Pinnacle Books)