What can one say about John Buscema, other than AWESOME! I fell in love with John Buscema for his Amazing Spider-man and Silver Surfer work. And then his work really grabbed me and didn’t let go after seeing him on Conan and Avengers. The first Avenger issue I read that he did was Avengers #57, the first appearance of the Vision. And who could forget the Superman Vs. Spiderman Treasury (the Sequel to Superman Vs Amazing Spiderman)….Good Lawd the man is good, and let me say thanks to my Uncle Bruce who introduced me to this artist. Which brings us to Hermes Press John Buscema: Michelangelo of Comics Deluxe Hardcover by Brian Peck. This book sports a price tag of $60US, but for that price they give you a special page of John Buscema’s pencils that was inked by Joe Sinnott. The page is personally signed and numbered by Joltin’ Joe himself! My copy is numbered #405 out of #750
This is an awesome looking book. The dust jacket has the same artwork as the cover. The cover art is a montage of some classic John Buscema character poses. All through the book are a ton of samples of Buscema art: thumbnail sketches, finished art, partially-inked pencils, production pieces, covers, and more. The best part of this is that the larger images were shot from the original art — and in some instances you can see the pencils beneath the inks. I’ve mentioned before that I have several pages of Buscema’s art.
Brian Peck, the Author, discusses the various periods of Buscema’s career, citing the timeframes in which he did full pencils and when he did breakdowns only. This proved to be very interesting when the discussion turns to the work of Tom Palmer. See during their first long collaboration on the Avengers, Buscema did full pencils, but in the 1980’s when they got back together on that title, Palmer was largely responsible for the finished product as Buscema did no blacks or backgrounds. There is also a fantastic checklist for collectors and completest at the end of the book.
Year: 2010
Paid: $60
Art: John Buscema
Quantity: 750
Binding: Blue cloth with same image as dust jacket on cover.
Publisher: Hermes Press
Comments: Great book and in great condition. Signed by Joe Sinnott and numbered 405/750
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