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Electrical Banana Masters of Psychedelic Art
Norman Hathaway and Dan Nadel
PictureboxDan Nadel and Norman Hathaway made a book about psychedelic art! And it's great! And I love it! And you'll love it, too! One of the biggest mindblowers of this book is that it starts off with a two-page interview that Norman Hathaway did with Paul McCartney. There was no warning of this on the front or back cover, which is strange, because if you got an actual Beatle to give you something like an exclusive interview it seems like you would advertise that. Not mentioning it is one of the coolest and most tasteful things they could have done.
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Norman Hathaway: You're very welcome. Your mom seems like a badass so I'm happy to know she showed interest.This book is great. So, so, so great. I like that you decided to really put a spotlight on seven specific artists instead of having each page or spread be by different people. I don't think books like that are necessary thanks to the internet. Books like this are, though. How do you feel about the way the internet has changed the art book scene?
Well, I feel it's a double-edged sword. On one hand, the freedom to research is another world compared to what it was like pre-internet. But sadly, I feel the duration of people's ability to cherish something has been hugely reduced. There is now a waterfall of visual material. That wouldn't bother me so much if there was also related texts or criticisms of the work. It ends up being a bit like an echo chamber though.

I must have been two-thirds of the way finished with the book before I realized McCartney had either worked with, or knew personally, the majority of the artists included. I've worked on projects for him as an art director for years and years and had chatted to him a little about the scene in London back then. It finally hit me that he would be a perfect person to provide the context of what the scene was like. I wrote an email to his HQ asking if he'd be up for it. His people thought my chances wouldn't be so good as he was preparing to tour and about to get married, but he responded right away and agreed. Then it was a matter of logistics.
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Well, it was unquestionably a labor of love. It took well over five years of research and assembly, so chances are a bit dim for a second volume. But there a definitely a few others, some in fact that were originally intended to be in the book but never came together for various reasons. For example, we got the best interview ever from Alan Aldridge, but had problems gathering his work. I'm still in pain over not getting Michael English, particularly his pre-Hapshash work. I feel he's an important link that transitioned pop to the psychedelic. And of course Moscoso, who's never had the proper treatment he deserves.
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We tried really hard to get Peter Max to take part, but it was tough going. Dan met with him twice but he just wasn't interested. We both feel he was important, and if we'd had the opportunity I think we could've presented a compelling edit of his early work. If you strip away the commercial stuff everyone's familiar with, it's immediately obvious how good of a colorist he was and what a strong command of composition and repro he had.How do you feel about modern psychedelic art? Is there any point in talking about it or is it all just a rip-off of older stuff?
I don't see much of interest, though I did surreptitiously allude to that on the final page of the book. I'd agree the majority is ripping off, but Gary Panter is definitely very strong and doing something new with it. I like Jessica Ciocci's work, too.Thanks for talking to me!


Pure Pajamas
Marc Bell
Drawn & QuarterlyNo one makes comics like Marc Bell's. I wish he made more, but he is mostly just in the fine art world nowadays, making compositions and objects that are not comical. Even though the comics in this book are old, they are all great. Marc Bell's characters bobble around, walking through carefully constructed dreamy realms and saying funny things. In addition to random comics that originally appeared in VICE and elsewhere, there are some neat full-page compositions where he has all the lyrics to specific songs accompanied by drawings illustrating every element in the lyrics. There's even some Shrimpy and Paul in here. The last quarter is kinda crude early stuff. I love you, Marc Bell. You're what the comic book game's been missing.
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God And Science: Return of the Ti -Girls
Jaime Hernandez
FantagraphicsThis is a big oversized hardcover reprinting a story that was serialized in the second Love and Rockets series.It starts off with Maggie, Jaime's main character, revealing to her younger friend that one of her tenants is a superhero. The young girl, Angel, makes a costume and tries to join in. From there the normally realistic world that Jaime draws turns into a 1960s DC-style superhero story. There are some familiar characters involved. Penny Century finally achieve her oft-mentioned goal of getting superpowers and she turned into a humongous threat.


Prophet : Remission
Brandon Graham, Farel Dalrymple, Giannis Milonogiannis, Simon Roy
Image Comics
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Star Wars Art: Illustration
AbramsThis is a big, fancy, 40-dollar book that collects a bunch of illustrations of Star Wars stuff for official Star Wars purposes. Most of the art in this book is from the 90s on. I don't see a lot in here from when the original films were made, which I think would have been interesting. This is almost interchangeable with the Star Wars comics book that Abrams released. Same format, same style of art, mostly. I like Star Wars and I like illustration. I like this book too, but I don't love it. I don't see a lot of Star Wars fans wanting it for 40 dollars, but, hey, I could be wrong.

