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Nov 20

Is he riding a Schwimm?Click for full image

Hammy Comments: Is this ridiculous enough?
Published 1992

Actually, that cover IS a classical work of art!I would touch it without protective gloves.I've seen worse. Far, far, worse.Interesting, but I would still read it in public.Middlng: Neither awful nor awfully goodWould not like to be seen reading that!Awful... just awful...That belongs in a gold-lame picture frame!Gah... my eyes are burning! Feels so good!Good Show Sir! (Average: 6.80 out of 10)
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26 Responses to “Mercycle”

  1. Tat Wood Says:

    Anglia Television’s reboot of ‘Stingray’.

  2. Bibliomancer Says:

    Spongebob has a new friend!

  3. Tom Noir Says:

    Good thing that fish is covering her… no, wait, do mermaids even have… ??? Although, she has flesh-colored scales????

  4. Bibliomancer Says:

    @Tom Noir – The artist painted in the fish because he also didn’t know mermaid anatomy details.

    A Barclay Shaw cover. Two days in a row, I notice.

  5. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    It’s either an artistic failure, or Ms Mermaid has a heterocercal tail and is therefore part shark. I’m equivocating, because it would be rather like Mr. Anthony to imply that there isn’t a bone in her body…yet. 😉

  6. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    Also, does the gentleman have a bicycle seat shoved up his bum? There’s a joke to be made of it, but I’ll leave that joke to other great minds.

  7. Noel Says:

    @ Dead Stuff – I’m thinking of fish, men & bicycles, but I don’t know what order to put them in.
    A bicycle needs a fish like a man? No wait.

  8. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    @Noel:
    Women!
    Men!
    Fish!
    Bicycles!

  9. fred Says:

    Original wraparound painting sans Tour de WTF.
    http://artie.com/cm/art/artists/barclayshaw/mercycle.jpg

    Wraparound with de WTF.
    http://www.apocalypsebooks.com/img/cover/mercycle.jpg

  10. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    WANTED: GIT. National Oceanography Centre are looking for a useless waste of a human life for our expedition off the end of the pier at Brighton. Propensity for social awkwardness essential. Must be denser than water, provide own transport. Send resume and essay describing which character from Xanth you most resemble to: 20/11 ‘The Covers’, G55 C0K.

  11. Anna T. Says:

    @DSWBT: Personally, I’m going with “artistic failure” for what’s wrong with Ms. Mermaid’s tail. I suspect it may be a birth defect.

    And our bicycling hero is probably going to drown if he stays underwater for a moment longer.

    @Tag Wizard: May I suggest “devil’s dumplings”?

  12. B. Chiclitz Says:

    There’s something fishy about this cover.

    (Well, somebody had to say it.)

  13. B. Chiclitz Says:

    By the way, I think she has just given birth to that green fish. And, given the color of bike boy’s shirt, I think we know who the father is!

  14. THX 1138 Says:

    “Dad! Darryl Hannah’s been locked in the aquarium again!”

  15. Perry Armstrong Says:

    @Tom Noir(3): said fish is apparently this publishers’ equivalent of Space Sheep or C.S. Lewis, intended to prevent moral guardians from complaining about (non-existent) ladyfishparts, while simultaneously making the artwork appear ruder in the process!

    … and Hammy, yes, this is just about the right amount of ridiculous.

  16. A.R.Yngve Says:

    How do I make fun of something this silly? It’s like putting a banana peel on top of a banana peel — the effect is not improved.

  17. NGpm Says:

    Truth be told, it’s a fairly accurate representation of what’s in the book. Lampooning this cover would be like shooting fish (mermaids?) in a barrel.

  18. Dead Stuff With Big Teeth Says:

    @NGpm: even the trouser wrinkles?

  19. NGpm Says:

    @Dead Stuff: especially the trouser wrinkles, the bike seat suppository, and the awkward mer-tail 🙂

  20. lurgee Says:

    The fish slap bang in the middle is breaking the fourth wall. Bad fish. How can we take this cover seriously when it is acknowledging the viewer?

  21. anon Says:

    @lurgee: In addition to that one, there is Nemo and at least two other fish staring straight at the viewer.

  22. Revellion Says:

    She was the town mercycle. Everyone had ridden her and she was always wet.

  23. RachelJ Says:

    So… “Mercycle” is an attempted wordplay on… “bicycle”???!!! Has he *finally* run out of actual puns?

  24. classicOz Says:

    The quality of mercycle is not strained, it droppeth to Piers usual standard

  25. Tom Noir Says:

    I feel like this book was the result of a bet. The author won, obviously. Sadly, the readers lost.

  26. JuanPaul Says:

    She was all like “whoah!”, and then I was all like “whoah!”, and then we were both like “whoooooah!!!”

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