Reading – Mad Max Fury Road: Inspired Artists

DC/Vertigo’s new hardcover book, Mad Max: Fury Road Inspired Artists*, offers us dozens of original illustrations and paintings inspired by the new Mad Max: Fury Road film. I ran across this book at Tribes Comics & Games in Austin a few days ago, and after a bit of time to flip through the book I feel confident that we’ve been sold a collection of wonderful artwork that was poorly assembled into a disappointing hardcover book.

Everything about the printing and binding of this 144-page hardcover is as excellent as we expect from DC except that the landscape artwork is presented as two-page spreads. Every image is cut right down the center! The design means that all of the artwork inside the book is damaged; I’ve got to say that this needed to be a landscape format book to truly give the artwork the respect that it deserves.

The decision to design the book in this format leaves me confused. If DC had decided the book needed to be a portrait orientation then they should have given the artists portrait guidelines. Since every image is a two-page spread, though, I’ve no choice but to assume that the artists were given guidelines that did not meld well at all with the physical item.

Example?

I know I launched right into a negative comment about Mad Max: Fury Road Inspired Artists* so let me provide you with an example of why the design bothers me so much. The above image, by Tara McPherson, is excellent. Unfortunately, the below photo shows what we see when we look at the artwork in the book. The artwork is divided down the center, meaning that we forever get a cross-eyed character staring back at us.

The book does not open completely flat, so all of the artwork has that annoying quality where the curves of the page and lost gutter distract. It’s a crime against the artists and their work, and the shrinkwrapped book I bought at the store made a hell of a lot more sense after I bought and unwrapped the book; who would buy such a terrible work if they could see inside before spending money?

Remarkable Artwork

Every image inside Mad Max: Fury Road Inspired Artists*, so the printing and design choices behind the book just leave me stunned. The entire project should have been a fabulous work of art, but instead we are left with a massive disappointment. This Yahoo post does not fully represent the book; the art shown online is undamaged by the book’s design decisions so anyone buying based on images posted online will be surprised when they receive the book.

Do Not Buy

Skip this book. Do not spend your money on this. We do not want to encourage DC or any publisher to produce more terrible art books. And I know I’m not alone in my opinions of this book; see the review at Parka Blogs for another opinion that mirrors my own.

“The only downside of the book is the format. Each piece of art is a double page spread that gets printed across the gutter. It’s not that nice to see every piece fall into the gutter. And if you know those binded trade paperbacks, they can’t open flat.”

A Disappointing Failure

Mad Max: Fury Road Inspired Artists* should have been an awesome purchase. The artwork is fantastic, the film’s hype growing, and if this book had been designed in a landscape format I’d be extremely happy with my purchase. As things exist, though, I’m recommending that you look at the artwork online and skip buying the book.

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