Kiss of Death : The Art of Fastner & Larson [Paperback]

NA (Author), Steve Fastner (Author), Rich Larson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2000

It's with a keen sense of humour and wondrous attention to detail that these two warped geniuses have created hundreds of magnificent fantasy illustrations. With the team of Fastner & Larson, good girls never looked so naughty - so tantalisingly helpless - or so well armed! It is the best/worst of American pop culture, as viewed through their unique prism. It contains many colour works which document their airbrush technique.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Steve Fastner and Rich Larson have been working in concert since 1976, and together they create one entity of staggering abilities. Rich will lay down the structure of an illustration in pencil form, and then Steve will attack it with army of airbrushes - and when the dust clears - a magnificient painting stands proudly. For over a quarter of a century, they've been able to do this, working for comics, book publishers, advertising agencies, movies and television, and now the web.

Product Details

• Paperback: 72 pages
• Publisher: SQP (December 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 086562030X
• ISBN-13: 978-0865620308
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 8.5 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,062,048 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars AN OLDER COLLECTION FROM THE DYNAMIC DUO, September 20, 2005

By 

Tim Janson (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Kiss of Death : The Art of Fastner & Larson (Paperback)

The word genius is thrown around awfully lightly these days so I won't use it here. Instead I'll use brilliant to describe the art of Fastner & Larson, still going strong after more than 25 years. It's hard to nail down just what it is about the pair that I like so much...I think it's the humor they inject, often uproarious, and often quite subtly into their work.

Kiss of Death is a collection of much of the duo's earlier works from the 1980's and early 1990's. It collects some magnificent pieces from many of their portfolios over the years such as "Daughters of the Disk" from 1988. You'll get a rare glimpse at a solo portfolio by Rich Larson called "Angels of Death" and it's interesting to see Larson's gorgeous pencils and inks without Fastner's trademark airbrush. "Petz" is a portfolio featuring sexy warrior women and their beasties, "Clan of the Claw" is a prehistoric set with scantily clad cave women battling Dinosaurs.

In the "Seven of Swords" portfolio, a fantastic collection of Swordswomen, SQ productions gives us a chance to see the illustrations take shape from rough, preliminary sketches, to the final, completed piece, and all the steps in between, less you think it just came easy to these guys.

While the bulk of the book is in (glorious) black & white, there is a color section in the middle including a dazzling, 1950's-style "B" movie alien menace painting with a woman running for her life from a blob-like creature. A holiday painting features a lovely swordswoman in Santa Miniskirt, hugging the literal North Pole, while razor-fanged reindeer battle to the death with pirate elves.

For you spanking fans there are the usual giddily humorous corporal punishment pieces that the pair is so well known (and worshipped) for. One interesting thing I learned about from Kiss of Death is that SQP took over the art direction for Fleetway Comcis/Quality Comics. This led to Rich doing a number of covers for the hugely popular British Scf-Fi character, Judge Dredd. Many of these unbelievable covers are reprinted in this collection.

Kiss of Death is a different collection than the more recent Little Black Book and other Fastner & Larson collections from SQP. It's more straight-up Sci-Fi and Fantasy than the more recent books which are more pin-up oriented. It's a great collection for their legions of fans who may be unfamiliar with their older work.

Reviewed by Tim Janson