I’m a huge fan of Gahan Wilson. Have been for years. Like Charles Addams and Edward Gorey, he’s a master of macabre humor, a guy with the rare gift of being able to make you laugh out loud at things that go bump in the night. Werewolves, vampires and unclassifiable tentacled monstrosities are all a part of Wilson’s stable of recurring characters, and rarely have they been in more capable or funny hands.
In January Fantagraphics released the entirety of Wilson’s run with Playboy magazine (what, you didn’t notice the cartoons?) in a beautiful, slipcased three volume collection titled Gahan Wilson: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons, a collection that my very cool wife got me for my birthday a few months back (know what else I got for my birthday? A new tattoo. Yeah, I know, my wife rocks!)
PICTURES AND MORE AFTER THE JUMP
Fantagraphics sets a high standard for quality in all of their products, and this collection does not disappoint. Wilson’s work is reproduced in full-color on high quality, thick paper, with heavy, durable covers. This is one collection that’s made to last. Even cooler are the die-cut “windows” on the book, the embossing and plexiglass windows on the slipcase. It’s just amazing…this is a product with a real “wow” factor.
Wilson’s work is accompanied with an introduction by Neil Gaiman, commentary, reproductions of correspondence, notes, early sketches and more, so If you’re an admirer of Wilson’s work like I am then this will be a must-have, something you’ll want to look at again and again.
You are dead on about this book! I thought so highly of it that I even included it among my selections for the annual RevolutionSF Geek Gift Guide.
Though you got one minor factoid wrong, the book actually shipped one week before Christmas!