Mood:
caffeinatedTopic: Comic Books - New
TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3448: I have known more of Greg and Time Hildebrandt works after they started illustrating comic books characters, so this book about their efforts to create calendars back in the past opened a whole new world to me. Not that I didn't know about Tolkien in the mid 1970s, but when I read the books even earlier than that, there weren't many images that I was aware of. Yeah, I'm that old, LOL! So I've read this book after viewing Peter Jackson's POV of what 'The Lord of the Rings' should look like, which I'm sure a lot of potential readers for this book now would be coming from... Here's what the publisher had as a promo for this book: "Author Greg Hildebrandt, Jr., son and nephew of the internationally renowned fantasy artists, witnessed the making of the paintings for the best selling Tolkien calendars. In this lavishly illustrated book, he shares his recollections of their creation, from idyllic Hobbiton to fearsome Mordor. Includes a uniqaue collection of original sketches and photographs for the paintings. Filled with commentary by the Hildebrandt Brothers Features a pull-out poster of an original painting, created especially for this book." Okay... The above is pretty much what I found to be in this book. That's because the presentation of this book is very orderly. It is more of a 'coffee table book' in style, yet hard hitting with all of the illustrations presented. Plus the text on where and how and why the calendars for those years were created. A really nice behind the scenes account by a person who was there, as a young child. And who was one of the several real life persons who were the models for the illustrations! I found that even though I was reading an account of what happened almost forty years ago... That it was 'fresh' in the mind of the author, and very strikingly presented! Not dry at all, and indeed, giving an insight to the way the Brothers worked! As well as an insight to how the younger Hildebrandt grew up! Did I mention how lavishly an illustrated book this is?! The painted illustrations were created for what became the popular J. R. R. Tolkien calendars of the mid 1970s, whic became world-wide bestsellers! The vivid color pictures of those paintings illustrate how fantastic those early concepts were in bringing to life the characters and locations of Tolkien's Middle-Earth. The story that the son/nephew gives to the readers is more than just an inside peek at the creative team's work. It also presents their methodology in creating the fantasy paintings for the calendars. Coming into the Hildebrandt Brothers creations so many years later, it is cool to see how these calendars came into being! My comic book grade for this hardcover book is a NEAR MINT (NM) 9.4 out of a possible 10.0 grading scale. Here's the only problem I can find about the book, (not with the book!). That's because the book is Out of Print, (OOP). Which definitely says something about this book, 'Sold Out'! I found a copy of the hardback with pullout poster to be listed for $470 as of this morning when this blog is being written! The softcover versions are also a little pricey, (mid one-hundreds!). But for those of you that are really into Tolkien and / or the Hildebrandt Brothers artwork... This book would have to be a 'Must Have'! And I notice there are other reprints with different ISBN numbers! Here's the info for identifying the book that I read: Hardcover: 132 pages Here's the link where YOU possibly can buy it online, as I don't have it listed for sale in my online comic book shop: Greg and Tim Hildebrandt: The Tolkien Years Again, please remember that you will probably only see reseller / collector prices for this OOP book, unless you find a reprinted paperback copy for sale! ~Michael D Hamersky
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