The Art of Walt Disney: From Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdoms
Media type: Book Release date: September 1, 1995
The Art of Walt Disney was first published in 1973. This major revision (some 50 percent of the text is new, with 200 new illustrations) carries the Disney story up to such current feature films as Pocahontas and even stories in production like The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Finch (The Art of the Lion King, Hyperion, 1994) also continues his exploration of Disney's nonanimated enterprises: the live-action films, television productions, and Disney theme parks in the United States, Japan, and France. As one would expect, excellent full-color illustrations abound, although the type size has been reduced in comparison with the first edition, presumably for reasons of economy. Solomon (The History of Animation, LJ 12/95) takes a vertical approach to the Disney phenomenon, concentrating on the fascinating world of Disney-animated features that were never released for a variety of reasons. In doing so he draws on the resources of the studio's Animation Research Library, where he was able to take advantage of countless detailed drawings and notes preserved even for productions that never came to fruition?a common practice at Disney. In this volume the Disney connoisseur will learn about Disney projects like Chanticleer and Reynard, as well as a curious collaborative venture undertaken by Disney and Salvador Dali. Disney propaganda, training, and entertainment films made during World War II are detailed in one of the most fascinating chapters. Few Disney fans would associate the animation giant with such films as Four Methods of Flush Riveting or Prostitution and the War. As contributions to the history of animation, both volumes are essential for academic and American studies collections.
Cartooning with the Simpsons
Media type: Book Release date: December 31, 1969
READY!
AIM!
DRAW!
Take an official cartooning lesson from the demented folks behind The Simpsons, and pick up oodles of insider tips on how to draw cartoons like a pro.
PLUS!
Find out the secrets of Marge's mile-high hair...Homer's donut-driven physique...Bart's spiky noggin...and much more!
The Polar Express
Media type: Book Release date: October 28, 1985
Van Allsburg's Polar Express is an old-fashioned steam train that takes children to the North Pole on Christmas Eve to meet the red-suited gentleman and to see him off on his annual sleigh ride. This is a personal retelling of the adult storyteller's adventures as a youngster on that train. The telling is straight, thoughtfully clean-cut and all the more mysterious for its naive directness; the message is only a bit less direct: belief keeps us young at heart. The full-page images are theatrically lit. Colors are muted, edges of forms are fuzzy, scenes are set sparsely, leaving the details to the imagination. The light comes only from windows of buildings and the train or from a moon that's never depicted. Shadows create darkling spaces and model the naturalistic figures of children, wolves, trees, old-fashioned furniture and buildings. Santa Claus and his reindeer seem like so many of the icons bought by parents to decorate yards and rooftops: static, posed with stereotypic gestures. These are scenes from a memory of long ago, a dreamy reconstruction of a symbolic experience, a pleasant remembrance rebuilt to fufill a current wish: if only you believe, you too will hear the ringing of the silver bell that Santa gave him and taste rich hot chocolate in your ride through the wolf-infested forests of reality. Van Allsburg's express train is one in which many of us wish to believe. 32 pages. (Hardcover)
GI Joe Vol. 1: Reinstated
Media type: Book Release date: June 26, 2002
Collecting issues 1-4 of the breakthrough comic series from Image Comics. GI JOE is back in a big way, and now you can snag the first sold out story arc, reintroducing Snake-Eyes, Duke, Scarlett, the rest of the Joe gang, and the evil Cobra organization. All new cover by Steve Kurth.
