Art of Vampirella: The Dynamite Years
Category: Books,Comics & Graphic Novels,Graphic Novels
Art of Vampirella: The Dynamite Years Details
Since the 1970’s, Vampirella has been known as the good-hearted bad girl of vampire lore. Brought back to life once again by the creative minds at Dynamite, she’s graced cover after cover with her piercing stare and iconic red outfit. Now, all of her stunning covers over the past few years are collected in this one volume. This must-have edition showcases the work of all the fantastic artists who have put pen to paper for the blood-thirsty beauty. Includes covers by: J. Scott Campbell, Alex Ross, Paul Renaud, Alé Garza, Joe Jusko, Lucio Parrillo, Fabiano Neves, Rodolfo Migliari, Johnny Desjardins, and many more!
Reviews
This is the 3rd Vampirella Art book that Dynamite has released. The first art book was The Art of Vampirella, the 2nd art book was the Art of Vampirella: The Warren Years and now comes this 3rd art book, The Art of Vampirella: The Dynamite Years. I was really impressed with the first 2 art books so for me, ordering the 3rd art book was a no brainer. For those that are unaware, Dynamite purchased the Vampirella rights back in March of 2010 from Harris Publications. Selling the rights to Vampirella was a huge mistake in my book, but it's ultimately one I am glad Harris made as Dynamite has done a remarkable job with this series since acquiring it. The series had really gone downhill in the latter years at Harris. It wasn't necessarily bad, but it certainly wasn't very good either. Clearly Harris had lost faith in the franchise and Dynamite saw a perfect opportunity to add an iconic female comic character to its portfolio. All in all, it was without question one of Dynamite's best acquisitions yet.Dynamite certainly didn't waste any time as their first Vampirella series debuted just 8 months later in November of 2010 and they didn't hold anything back. That Vampirella #1 issue had some outstanding covers including two amazing Alex Ross covers, one of which is one of my favorite Vampirella covers of all time, not to mention great covers by J. Scott Campbell, Fabiano Neves, and Joe Madureira. Including all of the different variants, there were ultimately 15 different #1 covers released, most of which were absolutely amazing covers. Clearly Dynamite wanted to send a very strong message to Vampirella fans and as one of those fans, I can tell you first hand that it absolutely worked. The week those #1 issues hit shelves...well, I hadn't been that excited about the Vampirella franchise in a very LONG time and fortunately for fans, that was just the start of what would ultimately become one of Vampirella's best runs yet, especially in regards to covers.What makes this art book such a treat is it contains every single cover from Dynamite's 2010 Vampirella series. What a great move by Dynamite, to include every single cover in the entire series run. They didn't leave anything to subjectivity, they just included the entire cover run in a single book. I really wish some of the other comic companies out there would follow suit on this one. I openly admit that the art is really my favorite aspect of the comic industry. As much as I enjoy the stories, its really the art that keeps me coming back. I actually prefer art prints over the comics themselves, when available, for this very reason (if only someone could convince Dynamite to start producing limited edition prints!!). So I for one really appreciate what Dynamite has done with this art book and I really hope its something we see in future art books as well. Personally, I would love to see Dynamite start releasing art books that focused exclusively on full page cover runs for entire series runs. I would buy one for Warlord of Mars, Red Sonja/Queen Sonja, and Dejah Thoris without hesitation.In regards to the quality of the artwork, this is without question one of Dynamite's best books yet and that is a direct result of the amazing cover's this series has had, from start to finish. At 240 pages, this is the largest of the 3 Vampirella art books released to date (The Art of Vampirella: The Warren Years was 200 pages and The Art of Vampirella was 216 pages). One of my favorite aspects to this book is without question the Lucio Parrillo covers. Lucio is my single favorite comic artist working today and his work with Dynamite has been absolutely sublime! As I wrote in my Amazon review on Lucio Parrillo's art book, I consider Lucio's cover runs with Dynamite to be the best cover runs I have ever seen from a single artist before, in the entire history of the comic industry. Each cover is absolutely breathtaking and they just got better and better with each successive issue. I personally consider Lucio's Vampirella #19 cover, which is included in this book, to be the single sexiest comic cover ever produced and the single greatest Vampirella cover ever produced. Its just the perfect rendition of this character. Since this book contains the complete cover run, it also contains Lucio's complete Vampirella cover run. That in itself made the book a worthwhile purchase for me. Of course, there is a LOT more here than just Lucio's covers. You have amazing covers from Ale Garza, Joe Jusko, Fabiano Neves, J. Scott Campbell, Jelena Kevic-Djurdjevic, Paul Renaud, etc. All in all, Vampirella's 2010 series run was without question one of the most impressive cover runs I have seen yet in this industry. A pretty impressive feat given this was Dynamite's first Vampirella series and its all contained in this art book.In regards to the quality of the book itself, this falls right in line with Dynamites previous Vampirella art book releases. Its got a nice quality binding, mid-level quality paper, which is what you should expect with any art book that has a price tag below $60, and a nice quality glossy cover. Dynamite definitely doesn't disappoint in regards to quality. For the price, your getting a quality art book that will last a very long time if properly taken care of.Bottom line - Vampirella is definitely one of my favorite female comic figures and Dynamite did just an outstanding job in its first series at the helm. Vampirella's 2010 series had one of the strongest cover runs I have ever seen from a comic before and that entire cover run is included here. Just top notch marks all the way around, definitely one of Dynamites best art books yet. I can't possibly give this book a higher recommendation! If your a fan of Vampirella....well, as I said in the title of this review.....BUY THIS BOOK!5 Stars and then some!!
