(urth) Lupine Fan Art

Charles Reed cmreed at link.com
Fri Sep 17 07:44:41 PDT 2004


Crush,

I'm not a big art connoisseur, but I do get a Tolkien calendar every 
year (going back to 1974), and I have to admit that I'm little bit a 
Frank Frazetta fan. 

James Wynn wrote:

> <snip>
>
>Ohmygosh! I complete forgot about this book sitting on one of my shelves. I
>bought it coincidentally about 2 months before I read tBotNS for the first
>time at a friend's recommendation. Each section has an article by the
>authors (Malcom Edwards and Robert Holdstock) discussing the topic. It seems
>to be out of print.
>
>Here's a run-down of the topics and the illustrations:
>
>Urth
>Illustrations by Michael Johnson
>The best fantasy illustrator of all those featured in this book IMO was
>reserved for "The Book of the New Sun."
>My favorite picture is of the Baldander's castle with the Hierodules' ship
>parked over it.
>It also includes:
>The Botanical Gardens
>Father Inire and his mirrors.
>Nessus from a distance across the Gyoll. (Not my particular vision of the
>city but well-done anyway.)
>
>This topic is actually the last in the book, and the article is decently
>insightful considering "Citadel of the Autarch" had only been released the
>year before this book's publication. The authors compare tBotNS favorably to
>LotR.
>The article also mentions William Hope Hodgson's "The Night Land".
>  
>

Thanks for the recap.  I looked through this book briefly in a used book 
store some years ago, and sort-of regret not having picked it up.  I 
might need to look around for it again.

>Middle Earth
>illustrated by Paul Monteagle
>Unimpressive illustrations in the world of available Tolkien fan art.
>
>Gormenghast
>illustrations by Ian Miller
>These are actually nice illustrations reminiscent of David Day's
>illustrations in "A Tolkien Bestiary".
>

I've got the BESTIARY, but have yet to read it.  Sadly, I can say the 
same thing about lots and lots of books.

(One of my favorite rhymes is from a wonderful little book called 
WHISKERS AND RHYMES, and goes like this: 

   Books to the ceiling,
   Books to the sky.
   My pile of books
   Is a mile high.

   How I love them.
   How I need them.
   I'll have a long beard
   By the time I read them.)

>Hyborea (The Realm of Conan)
>illustrations by David O'Connor
>Unimpressive illustrations. But then, for me, there's no worthwhile Conan
>art after Frank Frazetta.
>

Frazetta is the king.  But have you checked out the new Conan comic 
book, published by Dark Horse?  It's written by Kurt Busiek, with art by 
Carey Nord and coloring by Dave Stewart.  The art is unlike any comic 
book art I've seen before -- you could almost describe it as "raw" -- 
and I'm really digging it.  Everything about the book is amazing in its 
"channeling" of REH's Conan, and I would go so far as to say that it 
compares very, very favorably with Frazetta.  They're only up to issue 
7, so back issues shouldn't be too hard to find, and I'm sure a trade 
paperback will be out shortly collecting the first few issues.  If you 
can spare $3.00 a month, you ought to check out an issue or two, 
although I believe the next issue is going to have a "guest artist" 
instead Nord.

Charles






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