Comic Review: The Dynamite Art of John Cassaday (Dynamite Entertainment)

Artist John Cassaday is the subject of a well-designed Art volume from Dynamite Comics.

The Dynamite Art of John Cassaday spotlights his covers plus loads of sketches and variants.

Editor Nate Cosby, with book designer Katie Hidalgo really pull out the stops in assembling a large collection of work done by Cassaday. Fans of his carefully rendered realism style can review his drawings for The Lone Ranger, Battlefields, The Death-Defying ‘Devil, Buck Rogers, Sherlock Holmes, The Complete Dracula, The Green Hornet, The Shadow, The Spider, Doc Savage, Grand Passion and James Bond.

There are heartfelt anecdotes from Nick Barrucci, Brett Matthews, and Scott Dunbier that speak of the growing respect that Cassaday is receiving from his peers.

My favourite covers in the collection are the Lone Ranger pages, because, well, cowboy art. Draw a guy, and draw a horse, and now make the already difficult task even more difficult by adding lighting and drama. But wait, The Dracula stuff is really good too! Those red and black masses of shape, so well done. Oh, and the Pulp characters! Dramatic poses, retro costumes, wow!

The Dynamite Art of John Cassaday, $29.99 for 354 pages  Teen +