Cover art took center stage in the “50 Years of Overstreet” panel during the Baltimore Comic-Con Live virtual experience. Kevin Nowlan and John K. Snyder III, each of whom created a cover for the milestone edition of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide #50, were featured guests on the panel.

Nowlan reinterpreted Marvel Feature #1 for the Hero Initiative exclusive cover of the Guide #50, and Snyder provided a new take on Valiant heroes Bloodshot, X-O Manowar, and Livewire. They were joined by Gemstone Publishing Creative Director Mark Huesman, who designs the covers and logos, with Gemstone’s Vice-President of Publishing J.C. Vaughn serving as moderator.

The panel began with Snyder and Nowlan telling the stories of how they got involved in creating covers for the Guide. Snyder talked about studying classic covers for recreations he’s done on Overstreet covers. Nowlan noted that this is his first Guide cover and how he collaborated with Hero Initiative President Jim McLauchlin for the Hero cover.

Huesman shared what he does for the Guide as the Creative Director for Gemstone, such as designing the logos from the font to the color scheme to compliment the art. He also gave a report on how well the Guide has sold this year, what can be found in the Guide #50, and teased the companion book, Overstreet @ 50: Five Decades of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide.

The artists recalled their favorite covers of the Guide, then the conversation switched to the advancements in coloring covers now with computer color and painting, which allows artists to do so much more. Nowlan and Snyder shared their thoughts on the pros and cons of the new coloring process versus what it was like in earlier eras of comics.

Nowlan talked about being given freedom in how he designed the cover to evoke Neal Adams’ Marvel Feature #1 cover while making his own choices in how to present the characters and background details. Snyder followed that up by talking about his homage cover to Jack Kirby’s Fantastic Four #1 cover on the Guide #31 and the tweaks he made to how characters were presented.

They discussed the Hero Initiative, how it helps creators, and Nowlan pointed out how fans are becoming more and more aware of Hero and what the non-profit does for creators.

They closed the panel by talking about their current projects. Snyder talked about the “Morrison Hotel” short story about The Doors and a graphic novel with G.D. Falksen about werewolves. Nowlan is working on the Generations series at DC, he drew some pages for Detective Comics #1027, and has recently done Wolverine and Hulk variant covers. Vaughn ended the panel by highlighting more details on the Guide #50 companion book Overstreet @ 50.