Apes and Babes: The Art Of Frank Cho Book 1 (Hardcover)

~ Frank Cho (Author, Artist)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

From the award-winning creator of Liberty Meadows, Zombie King, and Jungle Girl, this 144-page, full-color collection showcases Frank Cho's past and present illustrations and reveals why he's one of the top masters of the female form and fantastic beasts.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Image Comics (May 9, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1607060825
• ISBN-13: 978-1607060826
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 9.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #65,332 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars He knows his anatomy, October 5, 2009

By	Parka (Singapore) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Length:: 0:20 Mins

Apes and Babes should be the first art book of Frank Cho feature more of his action and superhero comic art. It's a 144-page hardcover with a dust jacket.

The book features comic covers he has drawn for Marvel, Jungle Girl, Liberty Meadows and Mars. I'm not sure what Mars is but it's something like Conan, Xena, Frank Frazetta kind of art. For many of the illustrations, he has included the pencil line art version so you can see the before and after. Even though the subject is similar, the feel of the art is very different when colours are added on.

The most impressive part about is art book is probably his knowledge of anatomy. Even though the characters might still be a bit stylised, the anatomy adds a more realistic dimensionality to the character designs. I like the way he uses extremely thin lines to portray muscle contours. The colouring -- in this case probably called lighting -- is fantastic.

This book is recommended to superhero art collectors and Frank Cho fans.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good book with a few reservations, June 8, 2009

By	Richard A. Tucker "Tucker at large" (Pembroke Pines, FL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    (VINE VOICE)

The selection of art is pretty extensive for a book of this type. Almost half of it hasn't seen the inside of any of his previous art books. Unfortunately most it is familiar because it's cover art that helped to make him famous in the world of American comic books. There are some reproductions of his paintings that have lost their intensity, they're a little washed out looking.
Besides these problems this is a nice book. The people who have been buying up his many books will be happy to see the work that hasn't been in previous books. For those holding out, this is as good as they're likely to get.
This is 144 pages of fun. It's that simple. Frank Cho is a surprising talent in today's American comic book market. This book illustrates why knowing anatomy and not relying on distinctive but over-stylized, gimmick laden art is not old fashioned. Frank knows his stuff.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Apes and Babes: The Art Of Frank Cho Book 1, September 9, 2009

By	D. Neidlinger (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Overall this is a nice book. If you can't afford or find, the Mars Maidens, Jungle Queens, or the Sketches and Scribbles books, this has a nice sampling of the works from those. The book is from Image, and like the Liberty Meadows books, it's a nice quality hard cover with bright pages. And it's also the same size as previous LM books. Under the dust jacket, the book itself is dark green with a shiny silver skull surrounded by the name of book in the same color. Don't stare too long kids.

I like the way on most of the work, you get a comp sketch, with loose or tight pencils, that precedes the finished work. And the piece will encompass the full page on the left, then the full page on the right. So that you can compare and see what compositional changes were made before going to print. On some pages, there are the finished inks preceding the final.

For about the first half of the book, it's mostly marvel stuff he has done recently. Then the jungle section is basically that, apes and babes, with a few of his older pieces you can see in the Sketches and Scribbles books. Followed by some Brandy and friends. And then ends with the Mars section. Some Conan, Red Sonja, Dejah Thoris, and 4 armed apes. It's a nice selection of images, new and from books mentioned previously.

If you're new to Cho, or have been following his work, it's worth saving your lunch money for. I don't think you'll be disappointed. With a strong foundation in anatomy, and super clean inks, he fits into that Frazetta, Suydam genre.