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The world's pre-eminent artist of space and space technology Robert McCall died on Feb 26th at the age of 90. Within scientific and military world of space travel and aviation he is a legend. Among his many awards and honours is even the Yuri Gagarin Medal the Soviet Union gave him back in '88. He has left behind huge amounts of inspiring and influential art all over the place, from stamps to mission patches worn on the moon to a six-story-tall mural at the National Air and Space Museum.

Planet Blog marks his passing for one particular contribution. In 1968, Stanley Kubrick, asked him to do two paintings to be used as promotional posters for 2001: A Space Odyssey. Those posters did more than anything else to change the idea of the future in the popular consciousness. Prior to this the future was slick pointy-tipped space ships, space men with bubbleheads and cars with fins. With his painting of astronauts working on the moon and the pinwheel space station the future became functional, a workman's environment. A place where people live lives dependent on hardware that look like white goods on steroids and effectively are.

And the romance of a sophisticated future as we still imagine it today is encapsulated like a genie in a bottle, ready to grant many a hi-tech wish, by Robert McCall's painting of the Pan-Am space plane exiting the double wheel station. It remains the symbol of the dream of humanity in space, the finger pointing to the imaginings of a speccy hardware future.

Not a bad contribution by a guy Isaac Asimov once referred to as the "nearest thing to an artist in residence from outer space".

But I do have one question to ask...

Does it goes this way?

Or this way?

... with a couple of Jan and maybe one from Dec.

In the past I've called this segment "Fav Covers". But screw it, I only called it my favourites cause I didn't want to come off as a tosser announcing what is superior design and art when I have no qualifications to do so. Then I realised that those who are "qualified" are simply people other people have allowed to be qualified as "qualified". So if you allow me, here are my best selects for the season.

And click on the pics to get a better scrut.

Here's my favourite book covers for titles that have arrived in Planet Books during November picked for design and execution. Two titles actually came in October but I had overlooked them at the time. I didn't think anyone would mind.

Here's the best book covers for titles that have arrived in Planet Books over the last month. And by "best" I do mean my favourites. I try not to pick through a particularly intellectual process, but it is easy to see I am attracted to the artwork or the overall layout, usually the combination of the two.

Click on the image to get a bigger pop-up for inspection. The certain hairy book with eyes is Wild Things by David Eggers.

Of all the hot commercial "lowbrow" artists today I strongly suspect James Jean would have the fastest growing following. And going by his super extensive portfolio you'd wonder if he's not the hardest working. Regardless, his growing popularity and stature as the illustrator of looking through the groovy darkly is well established.

Originally from Taiwan James Jean graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 2001 at the age of 23 and it didn't take him long at all to become a regular cover artist for DC Comics, particularly the Vertigo line, particularly for the comics Fables and Umbrella Academy. And from there it didn't take him long at all to start garnering awards and a wider notoriety.

 

 

 

Having accepted commissions from the likes of Rolling Stone, Atlantic Records and Nike James Jean's biggest step into the world of commercial art and design has most likely been his extensive work in 2008 for the fashion label Prada. He developed a complex but unique look that they've very much taken to heart for their signature range. James Jeans' work is also featured in stunning ad campaigns, billboards and shop layouts themselves. And it all seems to culminate in this beautiful animated short that stands entirely alone as a work to appreciate seperate to its marketing purposes, which of course is quite clever branding from a marketing perspective. 

 

The most remarkable thing about his commercial success is also the very reason for it. And that is his exotic style and technique. Cause though he has used classic interpretations and explored the images of mythology and fairytale his personal interpretation has developed into something incredibly refreshing for the commercial world. And his prolific and fast working ability must make him a boon.

Thanks to his ever-growing popularity his work is being compiled and published. Sadly, his portfolios Process Recess 1 & 2 are no longer available. The Hallowed Seam (PR 3) just came out but is quite different to his earlier portfolios, instead being a collection of studies and such that appear to come from his sketch pad or moleskine. More like his earlier portfolios is Kindling: 12 Removable Prints.

 

   

Very cute is his postcard book XOXO: Hugs and Kisses. But my favourite publication would have to be Fables Covers: The Art of James Jean Vol. 1. Not just it is the best collection of his art, even when restricted to covers he did for the Vertigo comic series, but that each work is shown in various stages along with commentary on the process.

Fables Covers is already hard to get, though I hope for a new printing in the near future. But it does seem James Jean's printed material quickly becomes things of rare beauty. But don't to fret too much. There is clearly a long and illustrious future for James Jean. And even though he has stopped doing the Fables covers I think we'll see more of his haunting mythologies and landscapes of the quixotic. And his following will only continue to grow.

Gollancz have been doing some interesting things with book packaging over recent years. First was Future Classics, followed by Ultimate Fantasies and then Terror 8, all with well designed covers, some excellent choices and no duds. With their new set called Totally Space Opera they've got another interesting line-up, but I'm more enthused than normal because with the design of these books they've excelled themselves.

Designed by just 23-year-old Sanda Zahirovic I think these set of covers capture a fresh feel to genre books, allowing them more freedom to roam outside the genre sections of the bookshop. Thanks to recent space opera writers, those who works are often referred to as New Space Opera, particularly Iain M Banks and Alastair Reynolds, it has had a massive increase in mainstream appeal. So it is with good timing that Gollancz have released this set.

Olaf Stapledon is one of the very fathers of far future fiction and what is often referred to as Future History. Last and First Men is an astonishing work considering it first came out in 1930. As well as being an interesting novel that's ideas hold up for philosophical scrutiny, it is historically an important piece of work within science fiction as literature and as a vehicle for ideas. It's a true long-life classic and it will be around longer than some of the other books I will mention here.

Larry Niven's Ringworld is regularly in the top SF lists and is still the flagship novel for a sub-genre I'm particularly fond of called Big Dumb Objects. It rockets along and plays with a lot of the space opera motifs one becomes accustomed to through movies, aliens, weapons, slick space ships, etc, but Niven gives it the new wave edge and uses it to decorate some serious ideas of science and future technology.

Ringworld came out in 1970, same year as Poul Anderson's landmark novel Tau Zero. This novel is a great example of taking a complex idea, in this case traveling closer and closer to the speed of light, and exploring all it's scientific, mechanical philosophical and anthropological implications. It is a real hard science fiction novel. Compelling more for what is going through Anderson's mind than what's going on in the story.

Three years after Niven and Anderson, Arthur C Clarke, my SF hero, came out with what is still my favourite science fiction novel, Rendezvous With Rama. I did first read it when I was twelve so that probably has had a big influence for where I rate it. This is my personal vote for best Big Dumb Object novel. No one is better at presenting lofty ideas about the universe to a lay audience than Clarke. He portrays that sense of almost divine awe in the scope and breath of the cosmos, while still keeping a childlike curiosity.

I'm impressed that this set includes The Centauri Device by M John Harrison. He is an extraordinary writer who uses genre as a literary tool, often using the motifs in an ironic sense. Written in 1975, Centauri Device can almost be described as an anti-Space Opera novel. It comes across as an attack on what pulpy SF was doing during the last decade while writers like Philip K Dick and J G Ballard were typing away with less attention from the commercial markets. But irony can work both ways. Harrison's novel became an influence on future writers, a beacon to literary SF with space settings. So now it has a deserved place within significant Space Opera cannon. Harrison, still writing, genre bending work today, I'm sure is chuckling.

Continuing with Big Dumb Objects is Greg Bear's most important novel Eon. With this 1985 novel Bear became the next generation's A C Clarke. A novel of awe, wonder and theoretical physics, it feels inspired by Rama but Bear takes it all in a very different direction. A great idea, marvelous description, but bear with the slightly dragging middle, because it will get there and make it all worthwhile. Greg Bear is a versatile writer having written one of my other favourites, Blood Music, but it is novels like Eon he maintains science fiction as the genre of ideas.

I am a fan of Paul McAuley, an intelligent and entertaining writer who knows how to draw out tension and some groovy ideas. His Red Dust is on my fav shelf, but I admit to having not read his 1991 novel Eternal Light as yet. So I'm glad I picked this up now through the publication of this new edition. I'll also have to skip Adam Roberts' 2002 novel Stone, though I'm aware of its positive reviews as being a smart, exciting space adventure. And no direct comment about Alastair Reynolds' Century Rain, published five years ago. I greatly admire Reynolds, his debut novel Revelation Space was a great read and deserves to be a flag ship of this new far future fiction sensibility.

I can talk a bit about the final book in this awesome set. Published in 2003 Dan Simmons' Ilium just keeps building his reputation as a versatile, intelligent and all-round professional storyteller. This is a novel that has post-humans, now in machine bodies, departing the Jovian moons for an expedition to Mars to discover the Greek gods have returned and are replaying the Trojan Wars with resurrected twentieth century historians recording the events. That he pulls this all of so easily as a well constructed mainstream friendly novel is extraordinary. The research of gods, ancient wars, Martian terrain, and far future humanity is all smoothly combined. Just be warned, you'll need to pick up the follow-on novel Olympus. Really, it's a huge, huge epic novel sensibly split into two.

Street Fighter began in the arcades of Japan 21 years ago and has since become not just the most famous fighting game of them all but the most recognizable game ever. It's still going strong despite all the competition. You have to admit, that's not a bad run. I have to admit, I haven't played an awful lot of it.

But over the years it has been ever present in my popular consciousness. The arcade, buzz-bop sounds, the anime characters, the crazy game music are easy for me to recall. I also remember the Jean Claude VanDamme movie, but I recall little except Raoul Julia hovering about in his awesome General Bison outfit and mincing the furniture. I also quite enjoyed the animated Street Fighter 2.

Best of all was Jackie Chan's Street Fighter skit in City Hunter.

This year Street Fighter turned 20 in the US and that has been celebrated. In October, Capcom, the creators of Street Fighter, published Street Fighter Tribute; original art depicting characters from the games in various scenes, poses and actions. I guess you can call it a fan art tribute, but the artists are largely professional and all are talented. They bring a nice cross section of styles to the already well designed Street Fighter look, quite nice for any manga, character or low brow art appreciator. All are poster worthy works and are most successful at capturing the pop-myth-iconography of the Street Fighter universe.

It reminds us that Street Fighter isn't just a landmark in interactive entertainment but is a pop cultural institution. Its influence outside the arcades and home consoles is undeniable. Not just the massive influence on game design, but present in graphic design, sequential art, subculture iconography, the development of a swag of Saturday morning cartoons, fashion and even music. Basically, if Capcom stopped producing Street Fighter games tomorrow, its legacy would be influential for a very long time to come.

In short, Street Fighter forever!