Artist: Jeff Loeb/Ed McGuinness/Dexter Vines Title: “Superman/Batman: Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice Special Edition” #1 Label: DC Comics Release Date: 3/23/2016 Genre: Illustrated Rating: 3.5/5
Arriving just in time for the Warner Brothers Pictures release “Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice” comes this free issue of “Superman/Batman” #1 which has been rebranded for the film as a Special Edition. Those who already possess the original issue might still want to snag this based on the change in title and to have a nice new sleek copy of it if you’re able to get a physical edition. You can get that at your local participating comic book specialty shop like I did and all the rest will have to be served by the complimentary digital download. So what is going on in this issue you might be wondering? Well let’s address that. Continue reading Out Now: “Superman/Batman: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Special Edition” #1→
Artist: Various Artists Title: “DC Comics: The New 52” Label: DC Comics Release Date: 12/13/2011 Genre: Illustrated Medium Rating: 4/5
This past September, DC Comics restarted its own history by cancelling numerous titles and relaunching them under the branding of “The New 52”. The massive event follows the epic “Flashpoint” series and becomes the perfect jumping on point for new fans of the medium and these classic characters. Many of them continued along as if nothing happened while many others received new costumes, origins and supporting characters. The entire batch of #1 issues have been collected into a massive hardcover “Omnibus” that spans some 1260 pages and gives you the whole new beginning scoop in one bookshelf worthy collectible. Having reviewed 85% of these titles for the official blog, I am pasting those overview thoughts in the review for this book as the full on content will be the same.
Author: Bob Gruen Title: “New York Dolls: Photographs” Publisher: Abrams Books Release Date: 9/1/2008 Genre: Rock History Rating: 4.5/5
Photographer Bob Gruen lines out in his forward to the book “New York Dolls: Photographs” that in his life he has always found that one event leads to another and after a happenstance meeting with a manager friend of John Lennon, he caught another of this persons bands The New York Dolls at the Mercer Arts Center. The rest is as you say – history and since that time, the early happenings of the band and the name Bob Gruen were almost one in the same. The New York Dolls as a band were formed around 1971 and while only active with the members presented in this book for a couple of years, their impact and influence is still felt to this very day. They are cited as being founders of the Glam Rock movement by instilling fashion with high energy Rock and Roll shows and being instrumental in New York City’s becoming the music hot spot that it would become at this time. There are some who line out The Dolls being founders of Punk in some sense as well, and while most will agree that The Ramones hold this honor, it is true that The New York Dolls had some hand in this as well. If you are someone who needed an introduction to the members that we are focusing on, then let me line them out with David Johansen (vocals), Arthur “Killer” Kane (bass), Sylvain Sylvain and Johnny Thunders (guitarists) and Jerry Nolan (drums). Continue reading “New York Dolls: Photographs” by Bob Gruen→
Author: Marc Scallatino Title: “Vintage KISS Photos: 1974-1981” Publisher: Independent Release Date: 10/16/2009 Genre: Hard Rock Photography Rating: 4.25/5
If you were a KISS fan at any point in your life then you probably followed the same course of action that most of us do and that was digging through the popular music magazines of the time and scouring them for images of our favorite Rock & Roll superheroes. I remember doing this back in the days of my own formative Hard Rock interests and looked forward to finding images of the band in such periodicals as Creem, Hi Parader and Circus. Another recollection was my thinking about how incredibly lucky those photographers were to have been that close to the band to be able to present me with these images in the first place. I admired them for that which they had delivered and I was surely going to keep seeking out their work in magazines to come. This kind of mindset in the KISS fan led to the obsession of folks like Marc Scallatino who became so fascinated by the bands iconic imagery that he began building up and stockpiling photos of the band. He admittedly never saw the band in their 70’s heyday and would manage to do so in their 80’s adventuring but one cannot fault him for that because based on the presented collection depicted in this book he has not only made up for lost time in his own eyes, but he has treated us to some absolutely incredible stuff that I can say any KISS fan would enjoy. His photo archive is entitled “Vintage KISS Photos” and it delivers just that……the bands early and most powerful years in terms of their own rich history. Beginning in 1974, the photos that Scallatino presents to us cover some interesting ground and several dozen of them have never been seen before by the larger demographic of KISS fans. Continue reading “Vintage KISS Photos: 1974-1981” by Marc Scallatino→
Author: Neil Zlozower Title: “Van Halen: A Visual History 1978-1984” Label: Chronicle Books Release Date: 11/12/2007 Genre: Photographic History Rating: 5/5
If you have ever followed the fascinating history of the mighty Van Halen and remember their most classic photos from the bygone days when Rock & Metal magazines ruled the Earth then you will most likely also recall the name of the photographer who was behind most of them. That man is Neil Zlozower for those who are for whatever reason scratching their heads and he started shooting the band when they first came into the larger public eye at its beginning. His photo retrospective of their history spans those classic years from 1978-1984 and hence focuses only on the David Lee Roth era and does not feature anything with Sammy Hagar who took Roth’s place not long after that famous year. The visual history is almost a play by play of the band as they hit the studio, photo shoots, and live performances and it follows them from their self-titled debut up until their last album together which was “1984”. It’s a seven year span of time in which we get to enjoy the band during their beginnings as a group that seemed loaded with promise to the eventual juggernaut and musical force of nature that they became over the years and successfully seemed able to maintain in both music and image. This was a band full of Rock Stars and the images on these pages speak volumes about how they did it and how much fun it was to be a part of their world and a fan of what they do. As I glanced through the book I found myself going back in time to when I rushed to the corner newsstand to snare the latest copy of magazines like Creem and Hit Parader to see what world that they would take me to and without aging myself, I clearly remember seeing many of the images now in this book when they were originally new shots of the band. For me as a fan of Hard Rock and Metal, Van Halen is in my top three bands and I believe I have kept them as the second only to KISS in my worship of the greats for decades. Of course being second in my own list didn’t seem to affect my diehard admiration for Van Halen and if they were featured anywhere in those aforementioned magazines, I would run out to grab them on a regular basis. Having the chance to enjoy all of Neil’s photos in one place in beautiful color and crisp black and white tones was just fantastic. Continue reading “Van Halen: A Visual History 1978-1984” by Neil Zlozower→