Wow! It’s
been over a year since I did one of these…so I guess
I’m technically within the limits I set myself, but it’s definitely been too
long nonetheless. Here’s three books I’ve made my way through recently. And
hopefully Part 6 will be weeks away, rather than months.
Publisher: Ecstastic Peace Library
Year: 2011
I’ve
mentioned once or twice *cough* on here my love for heavy metal, and it’s near
impossible to talk about the recent history of the genre without talking about
Mayhem. I’ve always been kind of ambivalent about them (though I very much
enjoyed Live in Liepzig), but to deny
the influence they’ve had would be a fool’s errand – and when I saw them live
in 2010, they put on a crushing live show.
This book
is primarily a collection of photographs, punctuated with short essays from
Jorn “Necrobutcher” Stubberud, who’s the sole original member of the band these
days. It would have been interesting to hear some thoughts from the others too,
but of course most of them are simply dead now – buried by time and dust, in
the band’s own parlance. But the photos are fantastic (witness one of the band
members wearing a Bon Jovi shirt; could you imagine that now?) not only for
their historic value to Mayhem but for their insight into wider European metal
culture in the 1980s.
Publisher: TSR, Inc
Year: 1989
Back in the
1980s, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons was insanely popular. In addition to the
core game and its supplements (quite expansive in its own right), it had
spawned its own animated series, video games, a metric ton of tie-in novels and
all
manner of unusual merchandise. An art book is a logical extension of the
game’s products; but by manufacturing AD&D beach towels I feel like there
may have been some misunderstandings about the game’s core demographic.
The art in
here is primarily drawn from the mid to late 80s, and exudes an impressive
sense of professionalism, accompanied by commentary from some of the artists
themselves. Most, if not all of it is easily available online, but it’s a nice
relic from an era when the game was arguably at its peak popularity. Gone are
the crude but charming line drawings of the 70s, and no doubt there’s plenty
who would complain that it was emblematic of TSR’s shift from hobby product to milking
a cash cow.
There may be some fairness to that criticism, too; in less than a
decade, TSR would find themselves absorbed into Wizards of the Coast, victims
of bloated product lines, poor business decisions and mismanagement. What kept
the business running as a hobby doesn’t necessarily scale to a global
level. But Dungeons & Dragons lives on, with
the 5th edition released just in 2014 – it doesn’t look to be going
away anytime soon.
Publisher: Harper
Year: 2007
As a kid, I
was a massive fan of all things Peanuts,
and was devastated when Charles M. Schulz died back in 2000. I had originally
wanted to read this way back on first release, and have vague memories of flicking
through it in Borders (remember them?) but probably couldn’t justify the cost. Waiting
10 years did mean I scored it for only $6, and I’m sure there’s a Charlie
Brown-esque moral in there somewhere.
Schulz’s
family has been fairly critical of the book, and I can see why; though his
personal life was far from enigmatic, author David Michaelis takes a deeper
look than most previous biographers, and it stands at odds with some of the
conventional hagiography that often grows around beloved public figures.
That said, though
Michaelis’ commitment to uncovering the truth is commendable, it’s not a
perfect book. It dwells far too long on certain subjects (like the dissolution
of his first marriage) and not nearly enough on others that Peanuts fans might find salient (his
involvement in the animated specials, his friendships with other cartoonists).
I’m glad I read it, but don’t feel that I missed out for having waited this
long.
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