CRIVENS! COMICS & STUFF!: TASCHEN FANTASTIC FOUR BOOK...

Friday 4 October 2024

TASCHEN FANTASTIC FOUR BOOK...

Here are a few photos of a great book by Taschen I received today - The Fantastic Four. (That's its protective box, above.) The pages are photographed from high quality copies of issues 1-19, plus FF Annual #1, which then have subtle digital manipulation applied to correct any dodgy colour registration and to 'fix' any smudged panel borders which were sometimes present in printed issues (due to the flexible plates used). The result is as close to the original published look as you're ever likely to get.

I see Nick Caputo and Barry Pearl received a thank you in the credits, so they were obviously involved in the production in some way. (Hope they each got a free copy.)

To be honest, the book was an indulgence as I already have the stories several times over, in Masterworks, Epic Collections, and Omnibus Editions (as well as one or two original issues). The book is huge, 28 x 39.5 cm, and is lovely just to browse through. There are others in the series, but I think I'll stick with just the FF volume as I don't really have the space to accommodate any more books of this size.

Don't you think it's a beauty?

Below are some more photos from Taschen's own site...

8 comments:

Colin Jones said...: Looks nice but I assume it was quite expensive.; 5 October 2024 at 00:24
Kid said...: I suppose one's definition of 'expensive' is relative, CJ.; 5 October 2024 at 00:38
Colin Jones said...: That's true, Kid, but judging by your photos it looks like a hefty tome so I'm guessing it was at least £30 and anything less than that would be a good bargain!; 5 October 2024 at 00:51
Kid said...: £30? If only, CJ, if only.; 5 October 2024 at 01:00
Colin Jones said...: About 20 years ago I was in Waterstone's and I saw a book about the mythical Greek hero Odysseus or more specifically about his island kingdom of Ithica and whether that island was real or not. The book looked very interesting with lots of colour photos but I was horrified when I saw the price - it cost around £80 so I put it back on the shelf!; 5 October 2024 at 02:46
Kid said...: I must own more than 20 books that cost much more than that, CJ. Each, I mean. A book is forever, and well-worth having.; 5 October 2024 at 04:36
lord mikolaj said...: The awful thing about these books are their weight. I have the Taschen Tiki and Magic books, and someday plan to get the Pin up book, but they take up a lot of real estate! Congrats on it, tho. And thank goodness for Barry Pearl!; 5 October 2024 at 16:17
Kid said...: And Nick Caputo, LM. Yeah, they're heavy, and I'm surprised to see that though this book was shrink-wrapped, some of the glossy cover pages are quite wrinkled in places. (Bad ream of paper perhaps?) I'll have to get my iron out.; 5 October 2024 at 17:41

About the artist:

From 1985 to 2000 A.D. (little joke there), I contributed to a variety of high profile comics and magazines for various companies.

For IPC/FLEETWAY/EGMONT, I freelanced as a lettering and logo artist on various weekly comics and monthly magazines, and also as a resize comic artist and spot illustrator on pocket books, summer specials and annuals.

For MARVEL U.K., BLACK LIBRARY, REDAN and USBORNE BOOKS, I again freelanced as a lettering artist, also working as a restoration artist for MARVEL U.S., restoring and re-creating certain pages of JACK KIRBY art for their MARVEL MASTERWORKS editions.

I also lettered the MARVELMAN sample pages submitted to MARVEL U.S. when they were considering acquiring the character, which - as we all now know - they DID.

Supplied comic strips, cartoons and illustrated advertisements for local business campaigns and newspaper publication on a professional basis since the age of 16. Did my first paid art job for publication at 14 or 15 for Lanarkshire Education Board.

Have also made TV appearances as a collector of memorabilia.

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Just some of the titles I worked on are:

2000 A.D. * JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE * DICEMAN * SONIC The COMIC * JUDGE DREDD, LAWMAN Of The FUTURE * CRISIS * REVOLVER * EAGLE * TIGER * BATTLE ACTION-FORCE * BUSTER * WHIZZER & CHIPS * WHOOPEE * NIPPER * SCHOOL FUN * ACE VENTURA, PET DETECTIVE * The REAL GHOSTBUSTERS * DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE * COUNT DUCKULA * RUGRATS * The TRANSFORMERS * DEATH'S HEAD * THUNDERCATS * GALAXY RANGERS * DRAGON'S CLAWS * SINDY * MARVEL MASTERWORKS * The TROLLS * LOADED * INFERNO * WARHAMMER * ROSE BLACK.

Copyright Notice:

Images remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are used here only for the purpose of review, promotion, and nostalgia.

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In the case of images culled from my own collection where copyright of an item isn't mine, I impose no copying restrictions on fellow bloggers.

(Although, if you don't allow copying on your own site, then you really shouldn't be copying from others, should you?)

And while you can credit this blog if you like, it's not mandatory. Who has time to make notes of every casually visited site during an idle browse of the internet?

In the case of anyone copying images of my own artwork and calligraphy, I affirm my right to be identified as the creator, and any such copying should not be for the purpose of monetary or material gain. (Unless it's mine.)

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Please also note that this blog is not sponsored by, affiliated with, or connected to, any organisation, business, or group, and is wholly independent.