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The Art of Jock Review
Covering All The Bases
Tripwire’s editor-in-chief JOEL MEADOWS reviews Titan’s hardcover celebration of British artist Jock’s career, The Art of Jock…
The Art of Jock
Writer: Will Dennis
Titan Books
This huge hardcover book published by Insight with Mondo in the US and released by Titan in the UK was put out back in September. Jock, real name Mark Simpson, is a British comic artist with a very distinct aesthetic and a very recognisable style and he has become one of the best mainstream comic cover artists of the past fifteen years. This book takes us through his career from 2000AD to Batman, then moves onto projects like his cover run on Vertigo’s Scalped, drawing interiors for The Losers and Batman at DC and then his impressive run of work creating limited edition posters for US based Mondo.
The market sees lots of Art Of books produced over the course of a year but The Art of Jock stands out thanks to an exceptional design aesthetic and high production values. As well as the regular reproductions, we have a number of his images run with acetate overlays which really gives it a unique feel.
Writer Will Dennis has managed to give the reader a well-researched sense of who Jock is as an artist and how his career has developed over the last fifteen years. The fact that Dennis worked with Jock as his editor at Vertigo means that the pair obviously have a rapport which helps here. You also realise the range of projects he has worked on over the years including his posters for Mondo, which display his unique sense of design and composition. His Scalped covers were amazing and it is very nice to see a selection of them reproduced at this larger size. His Batman covers were also very impressive and again they are well-served by the format here.
His movie posters also show off his unique sensibilities as an artist and it is easy to see why he has built up such a fan following over his career.
The Art of Jock is a beautiful and lavish hardcover collection, celebrating the work and output of one of the best comic cover artists in the business and it more than warrants its oversized hardcover format and cover price. One of the most elegant art of books I have seen in recent years.
JOEL MEADOWS
Listen to our interview with Jock from last summer
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