Comic Book Icons

If you read this blog, there's a great chance that you know someone who loves comic books, or maybe you love them yourself. With holiday season upon us, now it's a great time to check out the book Comic Book Icons and maybe secure a copy for yourself or a loved one.

The slipcase and the book.

The book comes from my homeland of Brazil, and I am proud to say that, for this is one of the most amazing books of the sort I have ever seen. Organized by Ivan Freitas da Costa, the book brings 101 different artists doing their take on 100 classic comic book characters. The artists come from all over, with Brazilian artists being obviously slightly favored. Most of them are recognizable names, and all of them are amazing artists, each with their unique style. Some of the artists include Jeff Lemire, Ivan Reis, Mike Deodato, Alex Maleev, and Darwin Cooke, just to name a handful of my favorites. The characters themselves are all very different as well, including everything from Marvel and DC, to Peanuts, to Disney characters, European favorites, Japanese manga, and some Brazilian characters that might be new to foreign readers, but are very popular in the country, such as Monica's Gang. All this makes the Comic Book Icons a true manifestation of love for the medium.

The book itself is incredibly beautiful, too. Oversized, with hardcover binding and high-quality paper. No corners were cut, and everything about the book screams professionalism. Each illustration is printed on a full page on the right, with the left page bringing information on the character, the artist, and a brief statement by the author about his or her relationship with the character they illustrated. These are often very interesting, and sometimes touching. All this is printed in Portuguese AND English, in case you slept through your Portuguese classes in school. And some of the illustrations are printed a second time in very cool splash pages. This is the ultimate coffee table book for those who love comics - the only reason it doesn't sit on my coffee table right now is that I don't own one at the moment.

Comic Book Icons originated from a project on Catarse (the Brazilian version of Kickstarter). It may be too late to donate and get a signed and numbered book (mine is number 52!), but you can still get the book by contacting Ivan himself. At R$ 90 (approximately $45) for the book and R$ 130 ($65) for the book with the slipcase, these are a steal for the quality you get, and I wouldn't be surprised if he ran out of copies quickly. Better to hurry and secure your copy while you can. It's worth every cent.

(I decided not to post pictures of the interior of the book here, but you can see some of the artwork by following the link to Catarse I provided)