RUPERT — The Daily Express Annual (Review)

Rupert Annual (Review)

Now this is a nostalgic book for me, admittedly, I never actually read the comic strips but i remember loving the television show that aired in the 90s as a child! I was thrilled when I pulled this off the shelf and saw the cover had this familiar bear with his signature red sweater and scarf. The spine has no writing since the front and back is actually one long illustration, just as the end pages inside the book are.

Printed in Great Britain, Published by Express Newspapers LTD in 1982. This book originally cost $6.95 (Canadian) and still seems to retain its rich colours from print. Illustrated by John Harrold, John worked on Rupert the Bear stories for the daily express for over 30 years. John preferred to work at night when there was less interruptions and produced his first Rupert annual cover in 1978 along with other content and worked right up untill 2007 as the official Rupert artist.

Reference:

The Followers of Rupert Bear (Rupert Bear)

http://rupertbear.co.uk/creators-and-illustrators_11.html

The Silver Surfer By Moebius (and Stand Lee) (Informational)

The Silver Surfer By Moebius (and Stand Lee)

The Silver Surfer

Published in 1988 by Epic Comics and Marvel, this book is designed just as well as the illustrations are drawn. The sleeve is of course a beauty colour with metallic print around the Silver Surfer logo. Under the sleeve there is an embossing with a silver foil. As well the illustrations and perspectivism throughout the whole book with Galactus make it really awesome and I can't believe I haven't seen more of Moebius's stuff before this! I would say this is one of my favourite finds so far.

Moebius

Moebius Aka Jean Giraud was a French comic book artist who's unique sci-fi perspective had profound influence on graphic novels such as "Alien", "Tron", "Avatar", and more. Mr. Giraud went by the pen name Moebius and was a source of national pride for France. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Jack Lang, the French minister of culture, told reuters that Mr. Giraud's work "made him the figurehead of this unique art form in France."

Image from http://animationroadshow.blogspot.ca/2012/03/jean-giraud-aka-moebius-passes-away-at.html

Reference:

Jean Giraud, the Comic-Book Artist Known as ‘Moebius,’ Dies at 73 (The New York Times)

By: Vitello, Paul. retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/books/jean-giraud-the-comic-book-artist-moebius-dies-at-73.html?_r=0

Horror Tales Book Review

In light of Halloween being in 2 days! I thought I would post a scary story book I found in the children's section at a local thriftshop. Published in 1974 by Rand Mcnally & Company in New York, this specific book that I have found appears to be a second printing. This book is definitely one of a kind with the cover art which immediately draws someone like me in who likes cartoons and pop- culture things. The stories themselves are really eerie and I could definitely see some of these stories creating a sense of discomfort especially with a younger audience. The book includes a multitude of different stories including "The Boy Who Could Make Things Move" and "The Voices of El Dorado". Overall my review on this book is a good one, Its from the 70s — and has unique spooky illustrations throughout.. whats not to like?

Peanuts: A Scanimation Book

Review: Peanuts: A Scanimation Book

Published by Workman Publishing, New York in 2014. This book is a one of a kind created by Rufus Seder. You have to really see this book in action for yourself to fully understand how awesome it is! Every time you flip a page the nedt page's image becomes animate untill the page comes to a full rest. Please watch my short video demonstrating to get a full grasp of the book. The actual text for the book is kept short since the real focus of this book is on the moving animated pictures, Although the text does have some value too being unique quotes from the Peanuts series. I would say the only bad thing about this book is that its not longer with more pages too see the Peanuts in action!

Dinogami

Dinogami 'Problem Post'

Book find of the week this week is Dinogami! An awesome book with more novelty value than anything. This book was first published in 2008 in United Kingdom by Collins & Brown. This book includes 20 prehistoric origami projects. Right away flipping through this book you can tell its lay out very visual and fairly well done just by looking at the table of contents. As you flip through and enjoy the awesome photography of each origami piece you slowly start to realize how difficult making each of these are. The diagrams and very undescriptive with just a few words. Its mostly left up to the read to decipher these diagrams. It can be very confusing trying to follow there steps with these diagrams, thus one of the reasons I still haven't gotten around to making one of my own dinogamis. It could just be me and the fact I'm not an avid origamiist, but maybe those more experienced with the art are more familiar with how to follow some of these 47-step diagrams.

The Tough Coughs As He Ploughs the Dough

The Tough Coughs As He Ploughs the Dough By Dr Seuss

This book is an amazing research book for those looking to understand more about Dr. Seuss, and what he did before he was known as Dr. Seuss. Copy written in 1987 this book is a compiled masterpiece of Dr. Seuss's early writings and cartoons. Before Dr. Seuss wrote the Cat in the Hat, Ted Geisel was a writer and cartoonist for humour magazine. His words were nonsensical and very funny, and his pictures were inspired by all sorts of different subjects from visual puns to odd scientific understandings. 

Ted Geisel was also involved in famous presidential campaigns, and wrote essays and striking cartoons which greatly resembled the times and helped democrats in gaining their victory. This book is really a gem to find for any Dr. Seuss fan and very interesting. I would recommend picking it up and giving it a read if given the chance, or even just looking at the illustrations can be quite refreshing,  considering they are quite a bit more detailed then the children's book stuff that most of us are familiar with.

(Research Blog) 

Words To Use

Words To Use

Ok so heres a little rant about a thesaurus found the other day. This book was originally published in 1971, and republished in 1980 by gage. The cover art really draws you in and stands out among other books since the aesthetic really feels like a certain era. The fascinating thing about this book is the fact that it is designed and illustrated by Alan Daniel, and printed and bound in Canada. The over all Book is layed out very unstructured, and each page is completey different based on the words used which is part of the beauty of this book, It may not appeal to everyone and could even infuriate some of those modern day eccentric designers who like clean structured layouts with clearer hierarchy and what have you, but to me this book is a one of a kind and will always have a place on the shelf.

All Photographs by Johnathan Taylor

(will remove any if requested)