Customer Reviews

Classic Comics Illustrators: The Comics Journal Library (Burne Hogarth, Frank Frazetta, Mark Schultz, Russ Heath and Russ Manning)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although some of these interviews may have been printed elsewhere, much of it was new to me and the illustrations are large, excellently reproduced and stunning. There is a wealth of information here and the production values are exquisite. I heartily recommend this book.

I'll try to be brief. This is a great book for anyone who hasn't read the old interviews contained within this volume. However, I have read these interviews over the years and so there are no insights for anyone else who read them in The Comics Journal over the years. The art contained within this volume, on the other hand, is quite wonderful and a good deal of it is different, an update from the original interviews. Make no mistake, this book is a great art collection with insightful, if older interviews to round it out. The large format is guite nice for showcasing the art as well.
If you've somehow missed the interviews this is an opportunity to get into the heads of some stellar talents in the illustration and comic art field. With a line up a talent featuring the works and words of Frank Frazetta, Russ Manning, Burne Hogarth, Mark Schultz and Russ Heath, it's hard to imagine how the editors at TCJ could mess this up and, of course, they didn't.
My big beef is the lack of better Manning and Heath art. The examples are fine but I hoped for better, perhaps rarer samples.
That's a small complaint.

I haven't finished reading all the text yet... actually I would have preferred somewhat less text (it could have been edited down considerably) and more space devoted to the artwork. Also I wouldn't have included Russ Heath, whose focus is more on war and westerns while the other artists seem to have more in common with each other... more sci-fi, fantasy, Burroughs based illustrations. Oddly the picture of the cover posted by Amazon shows Dave Stevens as one of the artists featured in the book, but in fact he is not in it at all... though that would have been nice. Anyway, if you have room for this large sized book on your shelves it is a nice one. These guys are great artists, all you have to do is include proper quality reproductions of their work and you can't go too wrong.

Old interviews rehashed from the magazine. Just another example of The Comics Journal trying to wring big sack of cash out of dead artists (not all of them I know). There's some nice artwork here, that's unavoidable, but it would be better served in a book by a publisher that respects these artists, not one that's just trying to cash in.