Friday, February 17, 2017

Wanted Art Book: The Brave and Bold Art of Jim Aparo

Dork Note: This book, the Brave and Bold Art of Jim Aparo, was solicited, but never released. I believe it was due to Jim Aparo's passing in 2005 at the age of 72. I do hope TwoMorrows Publishing does publish this book one day, but since its been 10 years it is pretty doubtful.

Jim Aparo deserves his own book. His most famous artwork included A Death in the Family, Batman story that had fans vote on whether or not Robin (Jason Todd) should be killed.

In today's climate where most comic book artist no longer have "long" runs on a book, Jim Aparo was of a caliber above most. His Brave and Bold stint ran a little over a hundred issues as did his bit on Batman. So although this book does not exist...it should. If it's ever released I will certainly buy it.

P.S. By the way, check out TwoMorrow Publishing, they have an amazing selection of books and magazines that they put out on the comic book industry. I subscribe to Back Issue; which has some great articles in a wide range of Dorkness.

4 comments:

BRX said...

I agree completely with you.Jim Aparo deserves an artbook dedicated to his work. I recently bought the A death in the family hardcover and all these memories came back from the days when my brother and I first read that great story. Many mention several artists as the definitive Batman artist, I would definitely count him among my top 5. Just discovered your blog and I'm liking the content a lot.

Anonymous said...

Man, I'm right there with ya. TwoMorrows always puts out a great product - their books are always interesting from cover-to-cover, even if the subject matter isn't in my wheelhouse.

But the long-promised Aparo book in particular would be great. Maybe we can ask writer Eric Nolen-Weathington or TwoMorrows.

Your pal in Milwaukee,
Jim

Anonymous said...

I recently checked with TwoMorrows Publishing -- Dec last year. They advised that their book would be publishing in 2020, but that was just before the pandemic. In truth, there is NO way one book could contain ALL of Aparo's artwork, or even a reasonable representation -- the latter would take at least two books.

JIM APARO DOES HAVE SEVERAL BOOKS DEVOTED SOLELY TO HIS ART, or MOSTLY to his art, courtesy of DC Comics.
LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT, Vol. 1, 2 and 3 -- I've got 'em all-- are great starting points. BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD: BRONZE AGE OMNIBUS Vol1 (has several issues with Aparo art 98-110) and BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD:BRONZE OMNIBUS vol. 2 is packed with Aparo art (issues 111-150-something). Volume 3 will publish next year, with lost of 1980s Aparo B&B art.

AQUAMAN: DEATH OF A PRINCE; AQUAMAN: THE SEARCH FOR MERA and AQUAMAN: THE DEADLY WATERS all feature a LOT of Aparo artwork. Also, THE JOKER BRONZE AGE OMNIBUS included all of the B&B issues Aparo did, along with a whole lot of covers he drew for other comic book titles(featuring Joker) -- and(!!) the hardcover itself, features a Jim Aparo image of Joker, imbedded into the back cover (groovy)!

And a couple of books featuring Aparo's artwork done for THE PHANTOM published a year or so ago.

And, THE SPECTRE: THE WRATH OF THE SPECTRE OMNIBUS, out September 1 -- 600 plus pages! -- mostly Jim Aparo artwork! Also, DC Comics has the DEADMAN OMNIBUS publishing in December (more Aparo, Deadman-oriented, artwork -- covers AND interior artwork -- included. And they are currently trying to reschedule publication of THE PHANTOM STRANGER OMNIBUS.

The Dork said...

Thanks for the info!