One of my favorite things about going to comic book conventions is the chance to pick up books before they are released to the general public. It might sound silly, but there’s something cool about being able to get something that’s not yet been released to stores. Even though I was on a tight budget at this year’s New York Comic Con, #1 on my list of things I had to buy was an advance copy of Scott C’s Great Showdowns book, which was just released by Titan Books at the end of October.
I first came across Scott C’s (the “C” stands for “Campbell”) work online earlier this year, and I immediately fell for his fantastic artwork. His style could veer into “too cute” territory, but the topics of his paintings (such as Daft Punk Camping, or the Beatles without their shoes) are usually just bizarre enough to prevent this from happening. He’s been posting his Great Showdown paintings online (almost) daily for a while now, and I was super psyched that there would finally be a book collecting these awesome pieces. For those unfamiliar with his work, the paintings feature “moments of conflict” from classic (and, admittedly, not so classic) movies. They are not only restricted to fight scenes, or good vs. evil battles – the best part about these paintings is that they can pretty much be anything – from Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore vs. a vase on a pottery wheel (Ghost), to a boat vs. an iceberg (Titanic), to (my favorite) Bruce Willis vs. many smiling shards of glass (Die Hard). I haven’t mentioned it, but all the subjects are smiling at one another, and just seem so happy to be included in the paintings.
As an added bonus, in addition to setting up a signing, NYCC also included a Great Showdowns panel, which gave everyone the chance to hear about the book from the man himself. Over the course of about an hour, Campbell talked about the impetus for the showdowns (the first painting, of Ghostbusters, was included in an exhibition at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles), his favorite of the showdowns (Ghost), how, after more than 500 of these paintings, he still has a long list of movies he’s still got to get to (one specific example: Serenity– chew on that one, nerds!) Like most panels, this one closed with a Q & A session – but while this usually is the signal to leave a panel, Campbell kept the audience glued to their seats by drawing each person asking the questions as they were answering them! While this did lead to questions that were…less than awesome (especially since the panel’s location was right next to the exit from Stan Lee’s photo op), Campbell’s love of making art was infectious, and I would not be surprised if a majority of the people that wandered by the panel ended up getting a copy of the book.
While I was lucky enough to pick up an early copy at Comic Con, The Great Showdowns should be available now at all good bookstores- pick up yours today!
Written by Nicolas Doyle. Convention photo by Nicolas Doyle.
