Review by C.J. Bunce
As with the first three books in Abrams’ Cinemagic book series, The Moviemaking Magic of Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man blends filmmaking techniques with its key franchise star. Author Eleni Roussos combines a quickstart education in filmmaking, applied to Spider-Man’s MCU movies as the latest Spidey sequel, Spider-Man: No Way Home, is released internationally. If you love concept art, props and costumes, and all things Spider-Man, you won’t want to miss this.
Review by C.J. Bunce
Following up on its successful look behind the entire Star Wars saga in The Moviemaking Magic of Star Wars: Creatures and Aliens (reviewed earlier here at borg), Abrams Books is bringing home the characters of Avengers: Endgame and the Marvel Studios long journey to get there in its new release The Moviemaking Magic of Marvel Studios: Heroes and Villains. Incorporating its trademark interactive Cinemagic features, including booklets, interactive flaps, and accordion fold-out images of the concept art behind every major Marvel Studios superhero, Abrams has nicely timed this book for fans of the franchise who can’t get enough of the latest MCU film. Full of color photographs and interviews with the producers, directors, art designers, costume and prop makers, and special effects magic makers behind the 21 films leading up to Avengers: Endgame, writer Eleni Roussos (The Art of Black Panther, The Art of Thor: Ragnarok) has pulled together behind the scenes insights that offer something new for even the most diehard fan.
Which characters wore practical, real-life costumes and armor, and which required motion capture and/or CGI effects? What was the key element included in Marvel’s Avengers that Joss Whedon required to be added before he agreed to direct the film? What do the contributors agree was the smartest strategic decision made for the Marvel films? How did each artist convert the character from the comic book page to the finally constructed costume that appeared on the big screen? What effects were the most challenging for each film?
Altogether The Moviemaking Magic of Marvel Studios: Heroes and Villains spotlights more than 100 individual superheroes, on-screen support crew, and the most colorful and memorable villains from the series, with significant creative and visionary contributions from Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, directors Anthony Russo, Joss Whedon, and Peyton Reed, visual development executive Ryan Meinerding and artist Andy Park, and costume designers Rebecca Gregg, Laura Jean Shannon, Mayes Rubeo, Alexandra Byrne, Anna B. Sheppard, Judianna Makovsky, Sheldon Differ, Louise Frogley, and Ruth Carter.
Take a look at this giant preview of The Moviemaking Magic of Marvel Studios: Heroes and Villains below, courtesy of Abrams Books:
Review by C.J. Bunce
With this year’s hit blockbuster film Black Panther, Marvel Studios has offered superhero genre fans a truly original movie in its 18-film arsenal of live-action adaptations from the comic book world’s best-loved superheroes. A few new books on Black Panther that we’re reviewing here at borg.com delve into everything from the comic book history of T’Challa in Marvel Comics to a photographic review of the best scenes from the film. The concept artwork behind the film takes center stage in The Art of Black Panther from Marvel Publishing, compiled by Eleni Roussos, and featuring a foreword by director Ryan Coogler.
The Art of Black Panther reveals all the ways the hidden country of Wakanda might have looked, giving fans insight into the process taken by the production designers, set designers, and digital artists. The environmental designs for the hidden world of Wakanda, including several versions of concept art created for each set and location, make up roughly half of the book. The rest features multiple incarnations of costumes, jewelry and cultural props considered for both key cast and background characters. The book consists mostly of digitally created art, but plenty of painted work and pencil studies are included, too. As with previous books in Marvel’s film artbook series, don’t look for much explanatory text as this is primarily a visual compilation of the concept art without reference to the final as-photographed images from the film (if photos of actual sets and actors in costume are what you’re after, come back later to borg.com as we review another new book that features photos from the film).
Nicely designed with gorgeous concept art, The Art of Black Panther is a 240-page hardcover welcoming readers to Wakanda in a glossy binding, housed in a slipcase holder featuring artwork from the film. Readers can see how production designer Hannah Beachler and her team of artists went beyond the source material for the inspired designs that became Marvel’s newest fantasy world, incorporating Jack Kirby and decades of his artistic progeny from the comic books. Each of the key characters you’d expect get plenty of coverage. Readers will find hundreds of images of Ruth E. Carter’s costume designs for King T’Challa, Killmonger, Nakia, Okoye, Shuri, W’Kabi, Queen Ramonda, Zuri, T’Chaka, the Tribe Elders, and more.
DC Entertainment and Marvel Studios offered superhero genre fans live-action adaptations of some of the comic book world’s best-loved superheroes last year. The concept artwork behind each of DC’s Justice League and Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok are the subject of two new books for fans wanting to dig deeper into the development of these films: Justice League: The Art of the Film, by Abbie Bernstein, and The Art of Thor: Ragnarok, by Eleni Roussos. Both share the feature of being primarily photographic essays, visual guides illustrating the phases of characters and environments leading to the final art design used in the films. So both will make good souvenir or coffee table books in addition to showcasing the artists’ visions for film aficionados and comic book fans.
Justice League: The Art of the Film is a 206-page, full-color, hardcover book similar to last year’s Wonder Woman: The Art and Making of the Film. This volume gives much attention to the variety of costumes created for the film, particularly the looks of the new characters to the film series, Aquaman, The Flash, and Cyborg. Cyborg’s cybernetics were added in post-production via CGI. This is not so much a behind-the-scenes, detailed account with interviews about the production as we’ve seen in other volumes, but it does include statements from each of the key actors and production members peppered throughout the photographs The layout of pages and overall design is stylized keeping with the themes of the story.
An excerpt from Justice League: The Art of the Film.
Well-designed with gorgeous concept art, The Art of Thor: Ragnarok is a hefty 320 pages in a slipcase holder, featuring classic Jack Kirby art on the book cover inside the dust jacket. Kirby’s designs can be found as inspiration throughout the film, and are reflected in the concept art and design work, particularly that found in the fantastical world of Sakaar. Each of the key characters you’d expect get plenty of coverage. Readers will find hundreds of images of Mayes C. Rubeo’s costume designs for Thor, Hulk, Hela, Loki, Odin, Skurge, and the Grandmaster, as well as supporting characters. The fiery Surtur has a surprisingly thorough section, showing the various stages that resulted in the finished look seen in the film.
