July 06 - Elvis, Hero of the Comic Books Released

Red Panda Publishing published the 450-page book 'Elvis, Hero of the Comic Books' by Nigel Patterson. 

Publicity stated: While there are books about how other celebrities (eg. The Beatles, Queen, David Bowie, Prince, Michael Jackson and Johnny Cash) have been celebrated in sequential art (comic books, graphic biographies, graphic novels, comic strips and caricatures), this week the first book to showcase Elvis' impact in this area was published.

Written by Nigel Patterson, founding president of the Elvis Information Network, it features outstanding page design by Elvis Day By Day's, Kees Mouwen.

While the original concept was a 150 page book, it has ended up being a mammoth 450 page "coffee table" release! There are more than 400 titles showcased with more than 600 images, including book covers, internal artwork, and an eclectic array of comic book ephemera.

'Elvis, Hero of the Comic Books' highlights how diverse and far-reaching Elvis' impact has been, the themes ranging from biography, superhero, teen interest, crime, and satire, to zombies, vampires, the supernatural, anthropomorphic Elvis, and even a Fairy godmother and Lady Hellvis (Lady Death).

The book also contains a detailed account of Elvis and Captain Marvel Jr., a 20-page "For Mature Readers Only" section, and a tribute to the "Grandfather of Elvis comic art", Ger Rijff.

The book is available as a "deluxe" hardback (from Blurb sites) and softcover (from Amazon sites). If you are ordering from Amazon US it is temporarily discounted by 33%, so be quick to take advantage of this offer!

Buy the paperback edition from >>> Amazon U.S. (associate link).

Buy the paperback edition from >>> Amazon Germany (associate link).

Buy the hardcover edition from >>> Blurb.

Initial praise for 'Elvis, Hero of the Comic Books' includes:

"May I say: an absolute marvel of a book. Highly informative, insightful, colourful and fascinating to see all this all presented together. You don’t have to be into comics to enjoy this book. Highly recommended. WOW! BOOM! POW!" (Rogier van Luyken, It's Elvis Time)

"This book has it all and for the art loving Elvis fans it's just as essential as an Elvis record guide. I give it 5 stars out of 5 and that's including the awesome design of the book. A winner and an absolute delight!" (Gerrit de Jong, author of 'Elvis Hero of the Comic Book' and 'Elvis Still the Hero of the Comic Book').

Fighting To Keep Up

The VV import record label released another Limited Edition of their 'Fighting To Stay Alive' LP / CD set. This new edition of 5 copies comes on orange colored vinyl, housed in a gatefold cover which also includes a vinyl-style CD containing an ambiance recording of the February 12, 1977 performance as recorded in West Palm Beach.

Added to that is a 24-page LP format book detailing the first two months of 1977, a certificate, a fold-out art card with die cut cover and a glossy sticker hand numbered, the latter two in five variations).

 

(Source: Red Panda Publishing / Pascal Matteo)