I posted the piece about David Gordon's Chang3lings dolls the other day and here are some others I like!
But the man (and his team because if I keep forgetting to mention Lesley things might get...."messy") is not just skilled at producing these one off dolls or ones made-to-order, he is, as I've written before, a fantastic artist so how about a couple of reminders?
My Excess: David Gordon's Groove Tube Memories 2
Price:
£9.99
(excl. VAT)
Ships in 3-5 business days.
CHECK OUT PREVIEW ART PAGES ON THE WEBSITE!
Volume 2 of Dave Gordon's movie and tv related sketchbook.
Bringing to life characters from everything from The Wizard of Oz to Guardians of the Galaxy
Everyone knows I'm crap at remembering names, right? That made it slightly worse for me because I recognised every image on the pages barring one (I have no idea who Traci Lords is) and those whose names are embedded no problem. But others my head flashed up images from TV and movies and I sat like a dope thinking "Awww, what is her name? She was in--?" ahem. I didn't notice all the images are identified at the bottom of the page.
I'm old -right!
I think you have images in here for horror, comedy, Sci fi and other genre fans (I really have no idea where to put Traci Lords...): Conan, Alien, Farscape (a great gallery!!) , Blade Runner, Blake 7, Space 1999, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Videodrome, Chucky, Star Wars -quite a gallery- Giger, DeVito (Penguin) and Pfeiffer (Catwoman), Mad Max (the original of course), Big Trouble In Little China, Charlie's Angels, Superman (christopher Reeves of course) and Zod (Stamp), Super Girl (Helen -sigh-Slater), Terminator, Ghost-Busters, a nice Dr Who gallery, Yul Brynner (West World), Jeff Bridges, Divine (Harris Glenn Milstead), David Bowie, John Lennon, Toyah Wilcox, Kate Bush, Betty Grable, Heddy Lamarr, Judy Garland, Greta Garbo (oooh), Cary Grant, Kenny Everett, Joan Rivers, Benny Hill and more.
This really is an incredible "Memory" book. And, if you don't want to commission an illo, then scan and print the one you want from here and put it on a black border...instant art that people WILL comment on. But they'll comment more if it's a commission piece....
I've gone through this book FIVE times and I only got it yesterday! It has put a few smiles on my face which is a rarity these days.
David Gordon is just so ****** talented. There are other books on his store front and the powerful Cosmic Oddity I will NEVER stop pushing at people -a review....
I've Highly Recommended This On Amazon And I Do The Same Here: Dave -A Cosmic Oddity
David Gordon
MyExcess
A4
Black & White
Paperback,
Black & White
Paperback,
106 Pages
Price:
£12.99
Ships in 3–5 business days
http://www.lulu.com/shop/dave-gordon/dave-cosmic-oddity/paperback/product-21852269.html
http://www.lulu.com/shop/dave-gordon/dave-cosmic-oddity/paperback/product-21852269.html
I got this book handed to me by the postman (mailman if you are American) at 1300 hrs and by 1500 hrs I had read it through.
This is David Gordon -the UKs very own Milo Manara- telling his story. From his birth and adoption, three days later , through family life, school, university, work and later trying to contact his birth mother.
Dave takes us through his life and troubled relationships with himself (2014) narrating and flashback images and sequences of events. The style he uses in this book, being honest here, I saw at a glance and thought "not sure about this". However, I realised the clever way the art had been designed and drawn -photos, etc.- actually worked. Even the cartoony flashback-to-situation pages (see below).
What can I write about this? Gritty -yes. Factual and being brutally honest and to be equally honest here I do not think I'd have the guts to quite literally open up my chest and let some of these experiences out. Being pushed away by his adopted family is bad enough but then having to go through his (adoption) father dying of cancer -bad enough. But we then learn about the abusive relationships (physical and emotional).
There is still the matter of his birth mother and how that might end. However, Dave is now happily in a relationship with Lesley (I've met her and she seems quite nice for a prison officer -not even a moustache!) and that gives us a sort of happy ending. But, oh boy, what happened before.
Let me tell you something. For years I was also an agent for comic creators. You see good art, you know the writers or artists are reliable so, as an agent you put a spin on things to sell the work. I've read and reviewed comics and graphic novels for publications and online now for over 30 years. I see a couple hundred books of one sort or another a year -the crammed bookshelves and floors attest to that.
I cannot think of one book where a creator has taken us through his personal life and things have been so dark and gut-wrenching -even preparing for suicide- that I have said out loud "F***!" so many times. My sister even said "What are you swearing at?"
If this were an independent film it would be getting some award. A publisher should be paying Gordon to allow them to publish this! This is superbly written -and it must have taken a lot of thought to put this together without going over the top or exaggerating. To make it a sequential story interspersed with illustrated text pieces....this is truly what Will Eisner described what graphic novels should be: telling a true and honest story that grabs the reader and pulls them in.
You people out there deciding who gets nominated for an Eagle Award should read this book.
This book should NOT be ignored. If you think "I'll buy just one Independent book...." then PLEASE make it this.
The book has surprised and shocked me - I have heard some snippets over the years but never the whole story. In fact, you really need to read it yourself because nothing I write here can even adequately do it justice.
And just in case I did not make it clear: I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK AND YOU REALLY OUGHT TO BUY A COPY!!!
And check out Book 1 of Groove Tube Memories. Plain lovely!
Oh, and if you miss out on these books you may well need to see a psychiatrist.
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