Forty years of Alien. It’s worth celebrating. Ridley Scott blended science fiction and horror in a way never seen before, and it’s in large part due to the uniquely dark imagination of H.R. Giger, who we’ve discussed for years here at borg. Plus he gave us one of sci-fi’s greatest heroines (in Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley) and cats (in the ginger crewmember Jonesy). We’ve taken a look at multi-artist tribute concept books before at borg, including the massive The Thing Artbook, Star Trek: 50 Artists/50 Years, and The Mike Wieringo Tellos Tribute books. Anytime we showcase a major benchmark in comic book titles, like Detective Comics 1000th issue, Wonder Woman’s 750th issue, and The Amazing Spider-Man Issue #800, or charity projects like the Wonder Woman 100 showcase, we’re seeing the same thing: a variety of artists interpreting an icon of popular culture. InAlien: 40 Years/40 Artists, we’re seeing another artist challenge, and the result is among the best of the bunch. The new tribute arrives at bookstores tomorrow, so you have one more day to pre-order it at a discount here at Amazon.
We’ve seen the unique retro artwork of Juan Ortiz before, first in his episode-by-episode feast of posters in 2013 for the original Star Trek series (reviewed here at borg.com) and then in 2015 he attacked Star Trek: The Next Generation (reviewed here). With Ortiz’s original series posters, they all rang with a similar nostalgia vibe, applying mid-century retro imagery from advertising, movies, cartoons, and TV shows. Some of his Next Generation posters followed the rules he created with his first series, but they also veered in more symbolic and subtle representations than for his look at the original series. Juan Ortiz is back with his next homage to episodes of classic TV in the new oversized, hardcover, full-color artbook from Titan Books, Irwin Allen’s Lost in Space: The Art of Juan Ortiz.
Ortiz’s posters for Lost in Space are likely to appeal to fans of his original Star Trek poster art. This is likely because Ortiz has commented that he watched both the original Star Trek and Lost in Space before taking on his poster project, but much of Next Generation was new material he needed to watch for the first time. That passion and familiarity with the material follows through in each of his Lost in Space works–each one pulling something from the episode it honors. And the animated introduction to each episode (that was backed by John (“Johnny”) Williams classic theme) was tailor-made for Ortiz to incorporate those details, like the ship and the spacesuits, into several of his images. Better yet, you’ll find many images that feature the Robot.
Definitely among Ortiz’s best work, for fans of the series or not. You may want to cut some pages out of the book and frame a few for your wall. Who knows what is next for Juan Ortiz, but The Twilight Zone had 156 episodes–less than the 178 Next Generation episodes but more than the 83 episodes of Lost in Space, so maybe someone should talk him into giving those a try next? Especially because each episode was so vastly different, it would seem perfect for Ortiz’s imagination. Until then, you’ll want to see how the artist interpreted this great classic science fiction series that starred Billy Mumy, Angela Cartwright, Guy Williams, June Lockhart, Mark Goddard, Marta Kristen, and Jonathan Harris. Here is a look at four more posters from the book:
Last year CBS Consumer Products reached out to fifty artists of varying backgrounds and media across ten countries and commissioned works for an art exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the original Star Trek series. The result was featured at Michael J. Wolf Fine Arts gallery in San Diego’s gaslight district during San Diego Comic-Con this year, followed by a stint in Las Vegas for the annual Star Trek convention. It then heads to the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto from mid-August to early September before heading to the England for the Destination Star Trek Europe convention in October and continuing its worldwide tour through August 2017.
Next week Titan Books is releasing an oversized coffee table edition to accompany the exhibition, featuring all fifty artists and their Star Trek contribution. Similar in design to the successful Star Trek: The Art of Juan Ortiz, reviewed here at borg.com, Star Trek: 50 Artists/50 Years, is a colorful, beautifully illustrated guide for the Star Trek fan that appreciates artists interpreting the franchise. The hardcover exhibition catalog showcases some artists known for their Star Trek work and others who have never dabbled in the Trek universe before. Media used in these interpretations include paper, sculpture, metal, ceramics, and textiles, some hand-created and others via computer. The book includes a foreword by Star Trek film director Nicholas Meyer, and interviews with the artists.
Paul Shipper’s “Star Trek Inception: The Cage”
Not surprisingly, the work of successful comic book cover artists Joe Corroney and J.K. Woodward is featured, Corroney with two vibrant retro style posters, and Woodward with a painting showing key Klingons throughout all the Star Trek series and films. A photograph incorporating the Vulcan salute by Leonard Nimoy was also included in the show. As with any non-juried exhibition, a few works don’t quite seem to stir the senses as the others, but those that do are of high-quality and well-conceived. Comic book artist and animator Dusty Abell’s poster thoughtfully includes an element of each of the 79 original episodes if the original series. It would be no surprise to find Viennese children’s illustrator Amir Abou-Roumié’s whimsical look at Star Trek characters in a future San Francisco, titled “Homestead,” at the Met. Disney, Hasbro, and DreamWorks freelance artist Sue Beatrice’s metal sculpture “On the Edge of Forever” is an exquisitely detailed timepiece featuring the starship Enterprise.
Our all-time favorite retro poster art can be found in the classic Art Deco Works Progress Administration posters issued in the 1930s-1940s and discussed previously at borg.comhere and here. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has just released fourteen posters that look to the designs of the past to create a vision of our future that might inspire young scientists to make that future happen. As said by to NASA:
Imagination is our window into the future. At NASA/JPL we strive to be bold in advancing the edge of possibility so that someday, with the help of new generations of innovators and explorers, these visions of the future can become a reality. As you look through these images of imaginative travel destinations, remember that you can be an architect of the future.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory commissioned Seattle design firm Invisible Creature for a 2016 “Visions Of The Future” calendar that will be given to NASA staff, scientists, engineers, and government officials. In conjunction with this release JPL released beautiful, high quality digital copies of each month’s artwork for free download, for anyone to use as wallpaper or to print as full-sized posters.
After releasing a successful series of prints and tie-in products showcasing a complete redux of the original Star Trek–episode by episode in new retro-style posters–artist Juan Ortiz is back. This time he has taken on Star Trek: The Next Generation. The first look at these new posters is in this month’s solicitation for Rittenhouse trading cards, due to hit stores around December.
The glimpses of the new posters we’ve seen look great. If you haven’t marveled at his work yet, check out his poster art book, previously reviewed here at borg.com.
Rittenhouse is first releasing part one of a two-part series of cards featuring 89 cards in series one and the remaining 88 episodes of ST: TNG in series two. Bonus sets include an 89-card gold base parallel set featuring the facsimile signature of artist Juan Ortiz (1:24 packs, 1 per box), an 89-card autograph base parallel set with cards signed by artist Juan Ortiz (1:72 packs, 4 per case), a 40-card set featuring artwork from the Star Trek: The Next Generation comic books (1989 DC Comics series; 1:24 packs, 1 per box), a 40-card “Archive Cuts” set featuring cut panels from the Star Trek: The Next Generation comic books (1989 DC Comics series; 1:96 packs, 3 per case), autograph cards from more than 40 different actors (1:8 packs, 3 per box), hand-drawn, color sketch cards from more than 30 different artists (1:288 packs, 1 per case), and more to be announced.
Now through September 2, 2014, Entertainment Earth is having a summer blowout sale, including more than 100 Star Trek items. You’ll find everything from toys to prop and costume replicas to art prints–all on sale at the below links.
Looking for Juan Ortiz’s retro original series posters? How about some pips for your Star Trek: The Next Generation Starfleet uniform? How about a sphere from Star Trek: First Contact from the Earth invasion by The Borg?
See something you like? Just click on any of the links below to get more details and place an order.
After the break, check out even more from Entertainment Earth…
A 42-year-old graphics artist and illustrator from Brussels has taken a new look at some American film classics and transformed them into his own collection of movie posters. Laurent Durieux’s retro movie poster designs will be a welcome sight to fans of Juan Ortiz’s style of Star Trek retro-style poster art and Art Deco posters.
Many of the artist’s posters were created for Mondo limited film prints and Alamo Drafthouse releases, including King Kong and Die Hard. He’s covered everything from Alfred Hitchcock films like Rear Window, Vertigo, Psycho, and The Birds, to classic Universal Studios monster movies like The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Dracula, and Frankenstein (for an Austin Mondo show). He also has created a selection of science fiction classics, including Metropolis and The Day the Earth Stood Still. Steven Spielberg reportedly purchased 25 poster prints of Durieux’s Jaws to give to friends as gifts.
Hands down J.K. Woodward is the best artist to ever take on Star Trek in the comic book medium. His Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who Assimilation² was a stunning visual journey, and that series, reviewed here at borg.com, showcased Woodward’s superb painted panels and contained an imaginative story by David and Scott Tipton. Tipton, Tipton, and Woodward are back this week with the long-titled Star Trek: Harlan Ellison’s The City on the Edge of Forever, The Original Teleplay, a five-issue limited series beginning tomorrow. For borg.com readers we have a nine-page preview of the issue below after the break, courtesy of IDW Publishing.
The Star Trek: The Original Series episode “City on the Edge of Forever” is regarded by many (including a TV Guide poll of the “100 Best TV Episodes of All Time”) as the greatest Star Trek episode of all time, but what made it to television was a far cry from the original teleplay by noted science fiction writer Harlan Ellison. Ellison’s original teleplay won both the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation as well as the Writer’s Guild of America’s Award for Most Outstanding Teleplay.
The new IDW Publishing comic book mini-series, produced under the guidance of Ellison, now brings the classic story to fans like they haven’t seen it before. Issue #1 is a blast. Woodward’s visuals are eye-popping as usual, and the story presents its own parallel universe for those familiar with the classic TV episode. Yeoman Rand never looked better!
Fans of the original Star Trek series may be excited to see the original script for Harlan Ellison’s award-winning teleplay to the classic episode “The City on the Edge of Forever” will soon be adapted into comic book form. It will be a director’s cut of sorts, as Ellison has been vocal over the years that his original vision was better than what ended up on the screen, modified by Gene Roddenberry and at least four other writers. Ellison published the complete script and notes in his 1996 book about the episode’s “evisceration”. Nearly fifty years later Ellison won’t let his anger rest, having filed a lawsuit in 2009 that was later settled. Ellison is back yet again, and now fans will get to see his original work in visual form, produced by a Star Trek creative dream team.
Scott Tipton and David Tipton will adapt the Ellison teleplay to the comic script, and powerhouse Star Trek/Doctor Who Assimilation² painter/artist J.K. Woodward will provide the artwork for the story. Juan Ortiz, whose Star Trek work we’ve reviewed here previously at borg.com, will provide the cover art in his own unique retro style.
Trek fans really couldn’t ask for more, although considering fans count the episode among the most revered and well-crafted of the series, it may not be many fans’ first choice for an episode that could stand to be redone, or undone for that matter (cough cough “And the Children Shall Lead,” (ahem) “The Way to Eden”, (ahem) “Spock’s Brain”).
What do the art of Saul Bass, Salvador Dali, and Jackson Pollack, Russian film posters, Milton Bradley Board games, Aurora model kits, pulp novel cover art like that of Frank Franzetta and Joaquin Pertierra, Gold Key comics, Beatles and Jimi Hendrix album promotional art, and boxing match posters all have in common? They are all part of the imagery and nostalgia that defines what we think of as “retro” today. They also were the inspirations for a new book about 1960s Star Trek.
This month Titan Books is releasing what is probably the most attractive hardcover, coffee table-style book about Star Trek ever created. And it’s incredibly unusual in its contents. Back in 1966 to 1969 when the original Star Trek first aired, what if TV episodes had movie posters to advertise them? And what if you found a box full of these folded posters and published them today? In truth, no one created such a poster back in the 1960s. But that didn’t stop artist Juan Ortiz from taking on a personal project of creating pulp novel style poster art in a contemporary style for each of the 80 episodes of the original Star Trek series in his new book Star Trek: The Art of Juan Ortiz.
How do you come up with such creations? In part, for thirty days back in 2011 Ortiz committed to producing a poster every day of the month. This was enough to sell the concept so he could complete the series. If Ortiz can obtain this quality in such a short period of time, the sky’s the limit for this artist’s career. Mainly designing work under the direction of other creators, Ortiz has worked for Disney, Marvel Comics and Warner Bros. For this project, the ideas and implementation were all Ortiz.
If you are fond of 1960s mod imagery and pop art design, Star Trek: The Art of Juan Ortiz will no doubt deliver your own blast from the past. And each page could be trimmed out and framed–most of these full-page posters would edge-out their Mondo poster counterparts in creating cool, evocative images–some obvious but most subtle in their messages, pulling just the right bits and pieces from each episode. Ortiz’s pop art goes beyond this book–you can buy prints, T-shirts, posters, even wine, emblazoned with Ortiz’s Star Trek images. Check out his website for more information.
Admirers of Ant Lucia’s incredible retro-style art posters and collectors of Mondo posters featuring revisited movie imagery will be sure to be fans of Star Trek: The Art of Juan Ortiz. Ortiz’s book could also serve as a clip art book of sorts for ideas for creating posters, ads, and other signage for art directors and other creators of historic TV series and movies. The design elements are all believable and if you didn’t know these were created in 2011 and 2012 you’d assume these posters were classic film entertainment memorabilia. An added component is the aging of the posters Ortiz applies to make the posters seem fresh out of 45 years of storage, including folded pages, smudges and crinkled paper.
. Nearly fifty years later Ellison won’t let his anger rest, having filed a lawsuit in 2009 that was later settled. Ellison is back yet again, and now fans will get to see his original work in visual form, produced by a Star Trek creative dream team.
