A tale of 2 covers-- 20th Century Boys Volume 1
At least in my meager experience, when a manga finally gets translated over here in the States, the cover is almost always the same as the Japanese cover. Looking at Naoki Urasawa's Monster and his Pluto series, the original covers and design are the same things that Viz put out when they finally translated his work. That's good because both the original cover designs for Monster and Pluto are excellent. I really like the proper and minimal designs for the Monster covers and the face motif of Pluto only highlights the humanity of the characters in that series. The original cover designs for the Japanese editions of 20th Century Boys (pictured on the right above) are something completely different. The American editions (pictured on the left) follow the basic design principals but rearrange them, trying to present something more austere, proper and, ultimately, a bit more lifeless. The disparate elements of the Japanese cover (continued throughout the series) make it an interesting image, with the boys ready to fight, drawn in Urasawa's classic style, totally separate from the launching rocket that's the main image of the cover, a science fiction element from their childhood fantasies, perhaps. The American edition follows suit, but makes the rocket image more reminiscent of a black & white television image from some Saturday afternoon B movie. I've gotten used to Viz's American versions of 20th Century Boys but I miss the pop of the Japanese covers.