ILLUSTRATORS SPECIAL HC (2025)

The inside story of the Spanish Studio/Agency (Toutain Studio) that transformed the Warren empire and brought an unprecedented realism into comics! This glorious book from illustrators is lavishly illustrated and includes the following gifted Spanish illustrators: Enric, Sanjulian, José (Pepe) Gonzalez, Esteban Maroto, Luis Garcia Mozos, Jordi Bernet, plus Josep Toutain.

"This is the second illustrators Special, devoted to the Italian artists from the D'Ami agency who drew breathtaking covers and art for British comics in the 1950s to 1970s, particularly War, Battle and Air Ace Picture Library art. Nothing before has been written about these highly talented artists and this special is packed with dramatic cover art scanned directly from the originals. As well as building into an indispensable reference library, illustrators gives readers an insight into the creative process, from idea to sketch to painting, and from painting to the image seen by millions."

"This is the third illustrators Special, this one devoted to the illustrations and comic strip art of Don Lawrence. He is regarded as one of the truely greats of British comic strip art and there has never been a book devoted to his whole career. The volume has examples of his wonderful illustrations from Look and Learn, Ranger, and Once Upon a Time as well as comic strips Karl the Viking, Olac the Gladiator, The Trigan Empire, and Storm. Packed with breath-taking western art, adventure art and fantasy art."

"A celebration of one of the greatest British comic strip artists of all time, Ron Embleton. The life and art of one of the most popular and talented artists of the 20th century is explored in depth. The retrospective includes many reproductions of his original art, including hitherto rarely seen examples of his fine art. We hope that you are excited as we are at the incredible scope and vitality of this great man's art, from the early years of Wulf the Briton to Wicked Wanda from Penthouse."

"This issue will explore and showcase the art of Commando, the legendary British comic published by DC Thomson for over 50 years, featuring the art of Ken Barr, Ian Kennedy, Gordon Livingstone, Jordi Penalva, Aldoma Puig, Graeme Neil Reid, Keith Burns, Neil Roberts, Matias Alonso, Victor de la Fuente, and Luis Bermejo. (Contents may change.) Featuring reproductions of some of the most mouthwatering Commando cover art and interiors. "

"Featuring the art of Brian Bolland. In-depth interview with Brian Bolland. A complete overview of his whole artistic career. Brian Bolland's memory montages, Reproductions of some of the most iconic Brian Bolland artwork , recollections from friends and fans and much more."

"Avast, me hearties! Hoist high the Jolly Roger for a perilous voyage through 100 years of piracy illustrations from comics, magazines and books! Divided into 5 sections: 'Under the Black Flag', 'Sweep the Spanish Main', 'Swashbucklers of the Seven Seas', 'Four Fabled Sea Raiders', and 'The Sea-Faring Man with One Leg', along with special sections on Howard Pyle and Norman Mills Price. Featured artists include Ron Embleton, NC Wyeth, Frank Schoonover, Cecil Glossop, Graham Coton, James McConnell, DC Eyles, Sep Scott, Fortunino Matania, Will Eisner, Edward Mortelmans, Peter Jackson, Alex Nino, Jose Salinas, Reed Crandall, Wally Wood and many more! A showcase some of the greatest pirate art ever published in comics, books, magazines, posters, including many versions of Treasure Island."

Join us as we celebrate the life and art of one of the UK's premier graphic novel illustrators as we present a long overdue retrospective of John Burns art, with contributions from friends and colleages as well as access to unpublished and a rare glimpse at his creative process. From The Seekers, Jane, Lily and Modesty Blaise, to The Tripods, Judge Dredd, Space 1999, The Bionic Woman, The Tomorrow People, Kung Fu, Buck Rogers, Magnum PI, Jane Eyre and much more.

Enter the world of wise-guys, crooked cops, punks, snitches and two timing dames as we share with you the art of Criminal's Sean Phillips, Torpedo's Jordi Bernet as well as the lurid tale of the editors of the US's most successful crime comic Crime Does Not Pay and its creators Messrs Lev Gleason, Wally Wood and Charles Biro.

At long last a fitting tribute to two of the greatest British newspaper comic strip artists, Sydney Jordan renowned for the finest SF strip Jeff Hawke, and Jim Holdaway the definitive artist on Peter O'Donnell's Modesty Blaise strip. Both artists life and work is covered in depth with copious examples of their finest artwork reproduced directly from the original works.

Frank Bellamy is an artist whose work reflects much of the century that he inhabited. Born a year before the end of the First World War, his art documented an age of conflict, exploration, technological advancement, social change and an age which could envisage worlds as yet undiscovered as well as worlds long departed deep beneath the sands of time. What makes Bellamy's story so particular is his development into a pre-eminent graphic artist creating strips such as Robin Hood, King Arthur, Heroes the Spartan, Fraser of Africa, Montgomery, The Happy Warrior, Thunderbirds and Garth. His rise to fame presents not just a fascinating tale about his life and work but also the story of UK comics.

Galloping horses, velvet masks, Smoking pistols, stand and deliver, David Ashford takes us on a moonlight ride through the perilous roads of old England to meet up with the artists who have helped to create the visual images of the notorious masked highwaymen who were known as "Gentlemen of the Road." Plus, the history of the Wild West as portrayed in British comics. and a profile of Peter Jackson, the great historical illustrator.

The History of Glamour and Pin Up art from the 1900s to the present day, packed with illustrations including art from Francisco Goya through Sir Edward Poynter, Billy De Vorss, Charles Dana Gibson, Howard Chandler Christy, Harrison Fisher, Rolf Armstrong, Alberto Vargas, Enoch Bolles, Earl Moran, Gil Elfgren, Bill Ward, Peter Diben, to Fritz Willis, Chris Achilleos, Harvey Kurtzman, Ron Embleton, Soryama, Patrick Nagel, Liberatore, Dave Stevens, Milo Manara, Robert McGinnis and many many more. A gorgeous collection.

Edgar Rice Burroughs' mighty Tarzan  springs out of the page in our newest illustrators Special, featuring an interview by Bill Stout with the amazing Joe Jusko as Joe shares some of the most spectacular Tarzan art ever seen and reveals how and why these paintings came about. This epic issue also features John Watkiss and his inspirational art for Disney's animated classic Tarzan. A reminiscent Bill Stout recalls his days working as Russ Manning's assistant. And we explore the life and work of legendary Tarzan artist and founder of the New York School of Visual Arts, Burne Hogarth plus artwork by Fortunino Matania.

Exhaustive examination of all the artists that depicted Modesty Blaise from Jim Holdaway, Enric Romero, John M. Burns, Patrick Wright, Neville Colvin, Gerald Lip to Dick Giordano, plus numerous paperback cover artists. Packed with superb examples of all the artists' work, this also includes an informative article on the author and creator of Modesty, Peter O'Donnell by the leading authority on all things Modesty Blaise, Laurie Blackmore.

This is your chance ever to own part of history as we delve into Prince Valiant, the greatest comics strip created by Hal Foster, explore its origin, the coloring process and showcase samples from original artwork and the color proofs, many scanned at their actual size. We also feature all the artists that followed Foster from John Cullen Murphy to Gary Gianni and the current artist Thomas Yeates, with samples of their work scanned from their original artboards. In addition we interview Cullen Murphy who wrote the script for many years after Foster retired, Meg Nash who colored the strip from 1991 until her father John Cullen Murphy retired in 2004, Mark Schultz the current writer, and Scott Roberts the colorist since 2004. Limited to 1,000 copies.

You'd better bathe in garlic, grab a crucifix and wrap up warm, for this most spooktacular, edition of illustrators. This 200 page festival of fright delves into the darkest recesses of EC lore with an in-depth look at the life of the most reclusive of the EC gang-as EC scholar Grant Geissman describes Graham Ingels-'Mr Horror Himself.' Further light is shed by the reminiscences of fan and fellow EC scholar Don Vaughan as well as Ann Tyler, who attended Ingels classes during the period when he was tutoring painters. For Warren fans (and we know there are many of you out there) we have a contribution from J. David Spurlock, in a feature about Basil and David's friendship with the great man. And from the UK we have Shane Oakley. Once seen, never forgotten-that's Shane's art in a nutshell. Grab yourself a copy of the Illustrators Halloween Spooktacular, plump up your coffin pillow, shake out the worms and maggots from your shroud, and snuggle down for the ultimate fright-fest!