anthologies of beauty

After a client meeting, I finally got a chance to visit Fully Booked and much belatedly picked up the first Batman: Black & White anthology.

Published in the late nineties, it’s a veritable tour de force of artistic genius. Look at this list of creators: Neal Adams, Mike Allred, Simon Bisley, Brian Bolland, Howard Chaykin, Richard Corben, Neil Gaiman, Klaus Janson, Joe Kubert, Jim Lee, Frank Miller, Moebius, Katsuhiro Otomo, Alex Ross, P. Craig Russel, Bill Sienkiewicz, Walt Simonson, Barry Windsor-Smith, Alex Toth, Matt Wagner and many many more.

The stories are top-notch and the book design commendable. It even includes the Eisner Award-winning short story “Heroes”.

If I were to create an anthology again, I would look to this collection for inspiration.

The other one would be Dark Horse’s new anthology containing autobiographies.

There’s something about anthologies that get me going. It’s the thrill of drawing different creators together under one theme or banner to create a unified vision from unique voices. Seeing how various creatives render their interpretations is more than rewarding – it’s like food for the soul.

It’s never just about art, but about story, of words and art working together their sequential magic.

My dream anthology would be a series of Legion vignettes done by a combination of pop and indie creators, book design by Chip Kidd & Chris Ware. It’s sci-fi fare I would spend an exhorbitant amount on.