The Art of Jose Gonzalez

Its pretty amazing how far Dynamite has come these last 5-6 years. This is a company on a mission and everyone and anyone who enjoys comics and comic art should send an email to Dynamite, congratulating them for thier success and thanking them for the amazing work that they have delivered to comic lovers the world over. In particular, the amazing work they have done with Vampirella since aquiring the rights from Harris has been nothing short of incredible and I can't think of a single release that wasn't well worth the purchase.One of my favorite aspects of Dynamite in recent years has been their focus on releasing comic related art books. While I love reading comics, its actually the artwork more than anything else that really keeps me coming back for more. So it should come as no surprise that I am a big art book and sketch book collector and Dynamite has produced some outstanding art books in recent years. Just to name a few you have the 3 Vampirella art books (The Art of Vampirella, Vampirella: The Warren Years, and Vampirella: The Dynamite Years), The Art of Dejah Thoris and the Worlds of Mars, The Dynamite Art of Alex Ross, The Art of Red Sonja, etc. The Art of Jose Gonzalez is their latest release and like Dynamite's previous art books, it certainly doesn't disappoint.If your familiar with Dynamite's other art books then you know exacty what to expect quality wise. Dynamite's art books have quality glossy covers, quality bindings, and nice mid range quality paper, which is exactly what you should expect from artbooks in this price range. All in all, Dynamite's art books are well worth the money and will last a good long while if properly taken care of. As for the artwork itself....well, what can one say about Jose Gonzalez? The man was an absolutely brilliant artist and his work on Vampirella was nothing short of stunning. He is largely considered by many fans to be the best Vampirella artist to date. While I don't particularly agree he was the single best, I would agree that he is one of the top 3 artists to ever depict Vampirella on paper. His depictions of Vampirella were as much fine art as comic art and had a level of maturity and sexiness that very few artists have ever been able to match. I am extremely fortunate to own 2 Vampirella originals from Jose and they are without question 2 of my favorite pieces of original comic art in my entire collection. One of the great things about Vampirella is just how long the character has been around. Vampirella's entire body of work really gives one the ability to see the stylistic changes that occurred with bad girl art, and the bad girl genre in general, as the years passed by and even tho the genre has changed pretty dramatically over the years, Jose's Vampirella work stands the test of time and doesnt feel dated at all and that is ultimately one of the true tests of real quality artwork.While this book has a ton of amazing Vampirella art, it also has a lot of Jose's other art, which was a nice touch by Dynamite as they could have easily just made this about Jose's Vampirella work, thus making it the 4th art book in the Vampirella art book line and while that still would have been an amazing book, it wouldn't have been as rich or enjoyable as this art book wound up being. Unfortunately, Jose passed away in March of 2009, but he will be long remembered for the amazing artwork that he produced and Dynamite did just an outstanding job producing a book that is worthy of Jose and one I think Jose himself would have been very proud of!Bottom line - Dynamite has done it once again!. They have produced yet another amazing art book, one that I consider an absolute must buy. Jose Gonzalez was without question one of the premiere artists of his time and his Vampirella work is easily some of the best Vampirella work ever produced. If your a fan of Jose Gonzalez or even just a fan of Vampirella, you really owe it to yourself to add this art book to your collection.5 Stars!!!

Great Art. Thank you.

Husband loved it

This book is absolutely stunning, I highly recommend it. One of the best art books I've seen and I bought this on a whim when I stumbled across it because I thought the art looked lovely (and I was right, Jose Gonzalez is incredible).I really love the variety of the art they chose to include too. Oh and he draws men so beautifully, it's difficult to find an artist who can capture a mans beauty so nicely.

nice well put together book that is careful not to tread in realms of pornography. It's relatively tasteful overview of this author's work and some nice color pages. Almost borderline coffee table compatible, doubt many moms would forbid their child to look at this book.

Jose Gonzalez is easily the greatest Vampirella artist whoever lived. And no one draws, exotic, mysterious and gorgeous women quite like Pepe. This book delivers. Covering Jose's entire artistic life from drawing romance comics for the UK to the years at Warren. From his incredibly detailed portraits of celebrities to his later commissioned artwork of Vampirella, this book has it all. His work with colored pencils will leave you speechless. A 246 page visual feast. Kudos to curator David Roach, book designer Rodolfo Muraguchi and Dynamite Entertainment for putting together such a stunning tribute.

This is a terrific collection of the art of Jose Gonzalez, an excellent and influential artist best known for his definitive work on Vampirella. While there is plenty of Vampirella to be seen here, from comic pages to covers to commissioned art, this book also showcases his other works, from romance covers, to the Bobbsey Twins (!), to his personal works and excellent paintings of golden-age Hollywood celebrities.There are many full-page color pictures in this book which, along with the great depth of Jose's work that this book contains, make it a must-have for fans of his work, or any fan of great comic art.

If this is not the finest art book in the Dynamite line, please, someone tell me which one is its equal or better, so I can snap up that one too. This is just an awesomely well done overview of Jose Gonzalez' whole career, from early comics for British publications, through lots of Vampirella, to book covers, things you would hardly expect like Barbie and the Bobbsey Twins, to late-career private commissions and personal works. Don't miss David Roach's other books, THE ART OF VAMPIRELLA and MASTERS OF SPANISH COMIC BOOK ART -- but this is the most outstanding of the three.

SOu apaixonado pelo trabalho desse artista brilhante. Não o conhecia dão bem. Esse livro me deia a oportunidade de apreciar ainda mais o trabalho de Pepe Gonzalez.

Esta vez no ha venido deteriorado. Buen precio.

Bravura

This large format Dynamite publication contains some outstanding examples of Jose Gonzalez's work, ranging from pop music based comic stories aimed at teenage girls, to covers and art for Adult and Horror magazines from a variety of countries. Not to be overlooked are the examples of work featuring everyone's favourite vampiress, "Vampirella".There's an introduction by another Vampirella artist, Joe Jusko, a biography with lots of photos (including some of the models posing for photo reference), and, of course, lots and lots of art, in full colour and black and white.Personally I think this book is a much better buy than the other Dynamite Gonzales book which is basically just reprints of eleven of his Vampirella stories. In fact I think this is the best in the Dynamite "Art Of..." series published so far, especially at the currently reduced price Amazon is selling it at!One small niggle, the cardboard envelope the book arrived in didn't stop the back of the cover getting some light damage in the post, but that's Amazon's fault, and nothing to do with the review of the actual book!

Absolutely stunning work from a talented/gifted artist. Not just his Vampirella work, but his vast career and breadth of his artist achievements. A huge inspiration for fans and artists alike.