Dan Spiegle - A Life In Comic Art
                                             (2013 - TwoMorrows)  

     (by James Coates & the artist)    It was great to see this book devoted to a journeyman artist who was almost never given the spotlight.  The backbone of it is an extensive 2011 interview, backed up by a briefer 1972 interview, reminisces by the entire Spiegle family and a chronological index of the illustrator's comic work.  There's even an afterword from fan Sergio Aragonés and a full-page tribute-drawing by him.  Not surprisingly, there are a number of Spiegle's pages of sequential art to be found here, though many times a single panel, or splash page, is reproduced.  Only six pages (and the front & back covers) are in color, everything else being presented in black-&-white or greytone.  Unfortunately, that includes the reproductions of many images, like Spiegle's published covers & water-color commissions, that were originally seen in color.  (Know that the digital, downloadable version of the book apparently doesn't have that 'flaw').  There are two instances of the art creeping over the central gutter, but both remain acceptable in that presentation, if not ideal.  All display's are captioned with where they appeared, or what other use they were put to.  So, in summary, this 104-page book has 44 pages that allow single-image art to dominate, 28 of those gathering several images together and the remaining 16 each sporting a large featured reproduction.  Many of the text pages feature some smaller image.

other TwoMorrows releases

  Modern Masters Vol. 11 - Charles Vess

  Brush Strokes With Greatness - The Life & Art Of Joe Sinnott

  John Romita . . . And All That Jazz [BELOW THE LINE]

  Comic Book Artist # 22  [BELOW THE LINE]



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