Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Comics Review: The Art of Jim Lee Vol. 1

Trinity Dust Cover, There's also art on cover of the book


Yeah, this thing is even more impressive in person.   

 

I still had $10 on that Barnes & Noble gift card that I used last month (4-14-22) on an Archie comic.  When I was back at the store, I decided to get the then latest issue of Baseball America.  It’s a thin tabloid, but they’re charging $10 for it.  Don’t worry.  I’m not reviewing it.  It was a good issue though with a rundown of all the new rules changes for the season and profiles on the Tigers, Royals, Orioles, Pirates, and the Mariners (basically saying that these loser franchises may get better in the near future).  (The current issue questions “Is your ballpark compliant?” and has features on women in baseball.  I passed that one over.)   

 

In the comics section, I was surprised by two volumes of Moon Knight omnibuses.  I was unsurprised by the price, $45 apiece.  Thanks to the crappy new TV show, they’d pushed these out in softcover.  I was tempted, but the Bill Sienkiewicz material that I was most interested in was spread over the two books.  Also, it didn’t seem to include the earliest material from Werewolf by Night.  I’d also read a lot of Book #2 and hadn’t liked most of it.  (It was that Fist of Khonshu stuff.  I had a subscription in the 80’s.)  They’re still there.  I might weaken at some point.

 

As I walked by the Bargain Books sections, I saw this oversized hardback just lying there for $10.  The suggested retail price is $40, so I was shocked by this deal.  After a quick flip through, I realized I needed to have this, even though I don’t have anywhere to put.  Aside from being a pretty picture book, I thought that there’d be some practical value, since there’s plenty of good female art inside for me to butcher with my own sketching.

 

Artist Jim Lee came to prominence drawing the X-Men.  There’s no X-Men art inside, which is too bad, because this book really made me want to see his old issues.  This volume just contains his DC and Wildstorm work.  This is also named, “Volume 1,” but there’s no Volume 2.  Although it has the New 52 versions of DC’s Trinity on the cover, that material isn’t covered inside.  Overall, this is a picture book.  There’s some text about the characters and stories, but not in a detailed way.


Frank Miller inspired Batman

The Batcave and the Batmobiles



Black Canary

Catwoman, I still prefer the Jim Balent version, but this one comes closest to changing my mind.


First up, and the biggest section, is on Lee’s take on BatmanHush is his most well-known work outside of the X-Men.  I have a beat-up, used issue of the series and was very impressed by it.  (I’m surprised I didn’t review it here on the blog.)  I did pass over a trade paperback version the last time I saw one, though.  That was probably a mistake.  However, Lee’s done other work with Batman and drawn him in slightly different ways each time.      







Jim Lee has also done work on Superman.  Notice how great Superman looks with the red shorts, as opposed to without on the cover.  It’s the same way with Batman’s shorts.  The Classic look is “Classic” for a reason—it looks good.  (Superman without the shorts is Earth-3’s evil Superman, Ultraman.)   

 

Supergirl


Wonder Woman, Donna Troy, and Wonder Girl



Green Lantern Corps and Superman, finished and pencils

There’s a small section with Jim Lee’s work on other DC heroes, along with his collaboration with Stan Lee on Wonder Woman.  



Voodoo and Grifter (what an unfortunate superhero name) from Wildcats


Christy Blaze from Divine Right


Death, I'm surprised Jim Lee didn't give her a belt with a bunch of pouches and some big guns


The other half of the book features mostly Lee’s Wildstorm characters.  I’m not familiar with Wildcats or most the rest of them, except for Gen 13, which I did like (though that was mostly the J. Scott Campbell issues).  I’d mostly bounced from comics in the 90’s.  Gen 13, X-Force, and Sandman were the only titles I really collected then.  One of those titles is a bit different from the other two.  By the same token, Jim Lee also branched out on some alternative material with Vertigo, company promotional material, video games, and movie work.  



Saturn Girl from the Legion of Superheroes, Hey, Imra.  Read my mind.  What am I thinking?  -Slap!- 

The volume finishes with Jim Lee’s work on a Legion of Superheroes story.  Apparently, they’re one of his favorites.  (One of mine, too.)  Him doing a run on LSH would have brought me to the comic book shop every month.  As is, the group has been completely destroyed by universal reboots and remakes.  Oh, well.

 

Anyway, this book was a cool random pickup.  I almost feel like I stole this.

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