Way back in the first installment of this year’s Holiday Gift Guide, I talked about another wonderful book from Korero Press. They are quickly becoming one of my favorite publishers as they publish books about outstanding artists that I feel “should know”, but usually don’t.

Most of their featured artists, especially in their unofficial Horror Artists series, didn’t have big careers in the U.S>, so I feel I can be excused for not knowing them. But after cracking up these books, each of these artists fall into that “favorite artist” or “outstanding artist” category.

Terror: The Horror Art of Jayme Cortez focuses on the comic art of this astounding Brazilian artist. He’s a master at dramatic painting and I just love this book for several reasons:

Less Talk, More Action – There’s a forward by Paulo Monteiro, and an engaging introduction (The Life of a Master Illustrator), but after that it’s all illustrations. There’s a depth and a variety to this prolific artist’s work in the comics.

Photo References – Author Fabio Moraes has done a fantastic job at uncovering, and including, photo references from which Cortez worked. As the reader tries to piece the story of how the art was created, these pix provide a fascinating glimpse at the creative process

Every Old is New Again – We’ve all seen about a million images of vampires and ghouls threatening beautiful women, but somehow these Brazilian comics make it all seem new again.

This one is a beauty and deserves to be enjoyed during the holiday season – and beyond.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Korero Press
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 128 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1912740222