EXTRACTS: Illustrators Issue 4 © 2013 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

90 The Bookshelf by Peter Richardson IDW continue with their monster sized ‘Artist’s Edition’ series with the eagerly awaited ‘The Spirit’ volume. Measuring a whopping 22 x 15 inches, this book is not something you will easily be curling up in bed with. As with all the previous volumes in this series, you have to prepare your reading ground carefully, but once you have removed the book from it’s attractively designed outer packaging, you will find yourself experiencing the frisson of excitement generated when holding a page of original Spirit artwork in your trembling hand. Because creating the sensation of holding original artwork in your hand is what this series of books delivers, and this volume is up there with the best of them. It’s been eagerly anticipated for over a year now, and the wait has been well worth it, with 17 of the greatest Spirit stories beautifully reproduced, so every littlebit of verisimilitude is lovingly reproduced, making this experience of reading Eisner’s classic tales, unlike any previous encounter with these stories you might have had. Buy now while stocks last, as the book already seems to be disappearing like the proverbial hot cakes. Will Eisner’s The Spirit–Artist’s Edition Edited by Scott Dunbier Hard-bound 144 pages. IDW £95.00/$125.00 Albert Dorne Master Illustrator by David Apatoff Hard-bound 160 pages. Auad Publishing £25.00/$34.95 David Apatoff’s ‘Albert Dorne Master Illustrator’ is a long overdue look at the work of one of America’s premier league illustrators. A man whose work was once ubiquitous, and whose beetle browed visage would appear in ads for the Famous Artists School, which were published on a regular basis on the back of US comis in the early 1960s. Dorne, in common with Robert Fawcett, also the subject of an earlier book by Apatoff, and also published by Auad, was more of a draughtsman than a painter, but his work was sublime, and in common with Fawcett, his drawing skill was ably abetted by his powers as a graphic storyteller, able to draw a viewer into a text with his powerful and dynamic compositions. Apatoff ’s text provides an engaging biography, which recounts Dorne’s career as an illustrator par excellence, along with his duties as one of the cofounders (Norman Rockwell being the other party) of the aforementioned Famous Artist’s School. The book is liberally illustrated with examples of Dorne’s’ work, as well as photos of the great man in his studio, and a heartwarming reminiscence by his daughter, Barbara Dorne Bullas. l illustrators is also available in the USA from Budplant.com and in France from Pulpsart.com and Album.fr H.J. Ward by David Saunders. Hard-bound 272 pages. The Illustrated Press £29.99/$39.95 David Saunders’ look at one of pulp art’s most accomplished exponents, is a beautiful follow up to his earlier book on the life and work of his father, Norman Saunders’. Like the previous volume, Saunders’ Ward retrospective is a truly sumptuous blend of well researched biography and beautifully reproduced artwork, many sourced fromWard’s surviving paintings which appear as bright and vital as the day he delivered them to his clients. Ward’s tragically truncated life is brought into full focus with the aid of Saunders’ lively and engrossing text, coupled with photographs and letters, all of which help to add that extra dimension of accessibility to an artist whose work helped to define America between the prohibition years up until it’s entry into the Second World War. Ward’s career was, in common with many of his contemporaries, effectively put on hold as his call-up papers carried him away from his studio and into uniform. The manner of his passing was particularly ironic, as it wasn’t death in combat, but an undiagnosed cancer that wrote finis to an extraordinary output. Saunders’ book is the ultimate testament to this great artist.