• Mood: all bricks have eyes.
• Music: crown me king- emet earp

the nine.

brushfire by wayne barlowe.

wow, i didn't expect to be as impressed with this as i turned out to be. i have liked his stuff a lot before, but those have been encyclopedic, & not really original creation-- more interpretation. well, this brushfire book is his illuminations of hell, & i'll tell you what, he really does a spectacular job. the book is an oversized, awkward portfolio, but that i think ends up being in its favor rather than detracting (as it easily could). i am curious to know how much wraith: the oblivion there is in here, or how much of this is in wraith, depending on what came first, or whatever. it certainly puts me in a mood. there are plenty of tiny details that aren't mentioned in the text; the torn out hearts & broken blade halos in particular stand out. one thing that did sort of bum me out was that there wasn't a "pay-off" picture-- some two page spread of something particularly awful in the pit, for instance. i guess comics books lately have me expecting things like that? i won't get tricked into saying which of the pictures were my favorite, since they all certainly had their own charms & who knows how it will slip around. i like the illustrated book; i like the profusion of print & paint.