Book Review #39: Icons: The DC Comics & Wildstorm Art of Jim Lee

Icons: The DC Comics & Wildstorm Art of Jim Lee (2010)

This book literally took a week to get through. There's just so much goodness to be found within the pages of Icons: The DC Comics & Wildstorm Art of Jim Lee that it will keep you glued to it. When I first heard about the book, in my mind I thought it was going to be some tiny book full of covers and pin-ups. Boy, was I ever wrong. When I finally had this in my hands, I was like a little kid opening up the biggest present on Christmas morning. 

That's right. Biggest. This book is HUGE. I would even say it can be used as a weapon if need be. It's THAT heavy. Page after awesome page, you get to see Jim Lee's art on glossy paper and twice the size from that of a regular comic book. This is how you do a coffee table book right. Along with all his Wildstorm and DC art, you get insight to pretty much everything inside the book.

One thing you need to know though is that none of his work from Marvel is represented. So, no X-Men stuff and no Punisher. Had his Marvel run been included, it would have easily made this a 10 Star book. Even with this unfortunate omission, this is a book that belongs in everyone's personal library.

Get it. You will NOT be disappointed at all.

Rating: 5 Stars out of 5

Review by Chiprocks1

Book Review #32: All Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder

All Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder (2005)

Written by Frank Miller

Pencils by Jim Lee

Inks by Scott Williams

Colors by Alex Sinclair

There is a lot of derision when it comes to All Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder for a couple of reasons. Most people either hate this or love it. I tend to fall somewhere in the middle. The reason why most hate it is that Frank Miller, for whatever reason chose to make Batman nothing short of a Blood thirsty, psychopath, hellbent on inflicting as much pain as possible against his enemies. But the thing that rubbed most people the wrong way is that he seemed to be getting off on all the carnage he was dishing out.

This goes against everything that Batman/Bruce Wayne stands for. It's so completely out of character. Now, usually something like this where a character starts acting against the norm can be attributed to brainwashing, alien infection or any other influences brought on by one of many Batman Villains. But here, it's him and him alone acting of his own volition.

The other thing that tends to bring comic book fans to a boil is that the book just....ends. There is no resolution to the story. After 9 issues, it just stops. Even though it has been announced that the book itself will be morphing into another title called Dark Knight: Boy Wonder for 6 Issues to wrap up the story, it's still a shitty way to treat fans that were following the exploits of Batman.

As for the story itself, it's an origin tale about Dick Greyson, the original "Boy-Wonder" who becomes Robin. Although a lot is said about how Batman is completely off his rocker here and in the way he treats Greyson almost to the point of abuse, I can still find some things about it interesting enough to not completely throw this one away. I just look at it as one of those weird anomalies and chalk it up to a different take on the characters that you would never get elsewhere.

Having said all that, the only saving grace really for the book is of course Jim Lee's stunning artwork. The work he put out for this one is of the highest standard that meets and at times eclipses that of his work on Batman: Hush. Just astonishing to look at.

I can only recommend the book for Jim's art and not much else.

Rating: 3 Stars out of 5

Review by Chiprocks1

Book Review #31: Batman: Hush

 Batman: Hush (2002)

Story and Words by Jeph Loeb

Pencils by Jim Lee

Inks by Scott Williams

Colors by Alex Sinclair

Letters by Richard Starkings

Hush had a lot of things going for it from Jeph Loeb doing the words to mega-superstar Jim Lee on pencils and his trusty sidekick inker extraordinaire Scott Williams and the amazing colors of Alex Sinclair. With all these elements in place, did Hush live up to the hype?

A resounding yes. The first thing you will obviously take notice of when opening the book is of course Jim's amazing art. The guy just continues to top himself with each and every book he does. And he does not disappoint one bit in this book at all. If you are coming into this book for the first time having never seen anything he has done before, you will definitely come away as a fan.

What about the story? Any good? Very good. It was actually much better than I thought it would be. You're in for a treat if your a fan of DC Comics as pretty much the entire gallery of characters make an appearance at some point here, from Catwoman to Superman to the Joker just to name a few. Hell, you get not one, not two, but three Robins here. You will just have to read the book to find out how it all ties in together. 

I absolutely recommend this book for anyone that is a fan of amazing art or in need of a pretty solid story with lots of well-known characters. Also, be on the look out for a new Hardcover Edition of Hush with just Jim's pencils inside. That's right. No Inks and no colors. I can't wait to pick this one up next month (July, 2011).

Rating: 5 Stars out of 5

Review by Chiprocks1