REVIEWS! | 13th Dimension, Comics, Creators, Culture

Jan21

13 QUICK THOUGHTS on the Remarkable BATMAN: THE DEFINITIVE HISTORY

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Jan 21, 2020

13 QUICK THOUGHTS on the Remarkable BATMAN: THE DEFINITIVE HISTORY

REVIEW: An INSIDE LOOK at a startling achievement in Bat-history… In December, Andrew Farago, the co-author of Batman: The Definitive History of the Dark Knight in Comics, Film, and Beyond, stopped by with 13 OFFBEAT FACTS ABOUT THE CAPED CRUSADER. You can click here to check it out because it’s a gas. But we also wanted to take a broad look at the book itself, so fellow Batmaven Mark S. Reinhart — the author of The Batman Filmography — follows up here with a full-on review of what’s probably the most ambitious book ever written about the Dark Knight. So dig these 13 QUICK THOUGHTS ON BATMAN: THE DEFINITIVE HISTORY: — By MARK S. REINHART Out of all of the different Batman events and products designed to celebrate the character’s 80th anniversary in 2019, the one that I personally had been most looking forward to was the book Batman: The Definitive History of the Dark Knight in Comics, Film and Beyond by Andrew Farago and Gina McIntyre. Published by Insight Editions, the book was being billed as “the most comprehensive history of Batman ever written.” I’ve pored over BTDH quite a bit now, and it comes close to living up to its lofty billing. So here are 13 QUICK THOUGHTS on the book: 1. It’s Like Taking a Trip to a Batman Museum. BTDH is laid out in chronological order, following the character’s exploits from his debut in 1939 right up until the present day. And the book is GIANT! It measures 9.2 x 1.8 x 12.8 inches, and is more than 400 pages long. It is beautifully printed on heavy paper, with many full-page illustrations, allowing you to really immerse yourself in the detail. 2. The Big Screen Gets Big Treatment. Given my interest in Batman feature films, I particularly loved its full-page photos of many of the actors who have played the character on the big screen since the 1940s. These photos make you feel as if the actors are standing right in front of you, so you can really spend a lot of time studying the costuming and set design of these films. — 3. Find Yourself a Nice, Sturdy Table. Since BTDH is so large, it really is uncomfortable to hold when you sit down to read it for a long time! I didn’t want...

Jan04

INSIDE LOOK: How ALEX ROSS Wanted to Reboot FANTASTIC FOUR

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Jan 4, 2020

INSIDE LOOK: How ALEX ROSS Wanted to Reboot FANTASTIC FOUR

REVIEW: From the pages of Marvelocity… — UPDATED 1/4/20: The magazine Back Issue #118 is out as early as Jan. 8 and it includes an interview by editor Michael Eury with artist Alex Ross about his failed Fantastic Four pitch. We first broke that story as part of our coverage of the book Marvelocity in October 2018, so it seemed like the perfect time to re-present it, to prep you for Michael’s excellent interview. (Click here for more info on that, plus an EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT from the issue by Steve Englehart.) — Dan — I don’t know if you’ve picked up Marvelocity yet, but I cannot recommend it highly enough. The coffee-table book, which celebrates the Marvel art of Alex Ross, is hands down the most spectacularly illustrated publication about comics I’ve seen this year. Hardly a surprise, mind you. This is Alex Ross we’re talking about and the hardcover was produced with one of publishing’s top designers, Chip Kidd, along with first-rate photographer Geoff Spear. The book, a companion to the beautiful, DC-focused Mythology that came out 15 years ago, is jammed with hundreds of Ross’ covers, prints, sketches and pages – even his designs for the opening credits of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 and a series of busts based on his photorealistic style of art. A lot of it you’ve seen before, of course, but it’s all in the presentation, an intoxicating brew of colorful detail that makes you believe there’s a world somewhere in the multiverse that looks exactly how Ross envisions it. Even more fascinating, naturally, is what you haven’t seen – such as a new Spider-Man story and, startlingly, Ross’ doomed pitch to reboot the Fantastic Four in 2017 while Marvel’s First Family was still on hiatus. It just goes to show you that even the biggest talents in comics don’t always get what they want – and what Ross wanted was an eye-popping comic that echoed the DayGlo ’60s while offering something fresh. Just check this out: Ross spells out his vision across six pages in the book, including designs, sample pages and even treatments for potential logos. He never explains why the project wasn’t greenlit but we can imagine what might have been: — Marvelocity: The Marvel Comics Art of Alex Ross, is a 312-page, oversized hardcover, published by Pantheon. It lists...

Home » REVIEWS!