Link roundup

1. A video game review with a clever twist. Read the review and then click on the button just below.

2. Batman comic by Chip Kidd and Tony Millionaire.

3. 2011 Nebula Award winners announced.

Book cover for Haruki Murakami's 1Q84

Chip Kidd designed the book cover for Haruki Murakami's 1Q84:

The plot follows two seemingly unconnected stories that eventually weave together. The first involves a woman named Aomame, who in the opening scene finds herself descending a service staircase off a busy elevated highway in Tokyo to escape a traffic jam. Once she gets to the bottom and out onto ground level, she eventually comes to believe that she has entered an alternate reality, one only slightly different than what she had known. She refers to this new dimension in her mind as 1Q84 (the book takes place in 1984 and in Japanese ‘Q’ sounds just like ‘9′), with the Q standing for “Question Mark. A world that bears a question.” This concept becomes one of the novel’s major themes.

The vellum jacket:



And binding cover:



Combine to complete the cover image:



Available for preorder for %34 off Amazon.

Watch as Chip Kidd accurately points out that the cover to All-Star Superman #1 is terrible

Here's a 90 minute lecture by Chip Kidd from 2009 about several projects he had recently completed.



He starts by taking a shot at Celine Dion and Vegas:



And establishing his bonafides as a Batman geek (that's him as Robin in a costume made by his mom):



The first project he describes is designing the logos for All-Star Superman and All-Star Batman and Robin - - he got the job because Frank Miller demanded DC hire him.

The Superman logo represents Superman flying away at great speed:



While the Batman and Robin logo looks like the duo crashing through a skylight (emphasizing Robin, his favorite):



After that, the speech takes a surprising turn as he mocks the DC staff:

The thing that you need to know about the staff at DC Comics . . . is that they are all to one, overgrown 15-year-olds, mostly men, who breathe through their mouths, and are crazy, and have no taste.

The insults are tacky, but I entirely agree with his next point - - the covers to All-Star Superman #1 and All-Star Batman and Robin #1 were horrendous.

Jim Lee's cover for Batman and Robin is hopelessly busy and features the duo hanging from something that's bizarrely high. And Robin seems to be kicking Batman in the groin:



The Superman cover is at least a better illustration, but is tremendously boring. I suspect that the people who liked it were preprogrammed to do so by the many interviews Grant Morrison gave in which he described meeting a Superman cosplayer who became his muse. For example:

I’ve told this story in more detail elsewhere but basically, we were trying to figure out how to “reboot” Superman without splitting up his marriage to Lois, which seemed like a cop–out. It was the beginning of the conversations which ultimately led to Superman Now, with Dan and I restlessly pacing around trying to figure out a new way into the character of Superman and coming up short...

Until we looked up to see a guy dressed as Superman crossing the train tracks. Not just any skinny convention guy in an ill–fitting suit, this guy actually looked like Superman. It was too good a moment to let pass, so I ran over to him, told him what we’d been trying to do and asked if he wouldn’t mind indulging us by answering some questions about Superman, which he did...in the persona and voice of Superman!

We talked for an hour and a half and he walked off into the night with his friend (no, it wasn’t Jimmy Olsen, sadly). I sat up the rest of the night, scribbling page after page of Superman notes as the sun came up over the naval yards.

My entire approach to Superman had come from the way that guy had been sitting; so easy, so confident, as if, invulnerable to all physical harm, he could relax completely and be spontaneous and warm. That pose, sitting hunched on the bollard, with one knee up, the cape just hanging there, talking to us seemed to me to be the opposite of the clenched, muscle-bound look the character sometimes sports and that was the key to Superman for me.

Now if you had read one of those interviews, then you would have understood the story that's being told on the cover:



But if, like Chip Kidd, you hadn't, then the cover says nothing at all. If anything, as Kidd points out, it features a Superman sitting in a fairly unmasculine pose, and who seems disinterested in his city. Compare it to some of the other covers in the series:








Now those covers tell a story. All in all, the lecture is a fascinating look at how Kidd goes about his work. You can buy a wonderful collection of Chip Kidd's book covers, at Amazon. Via.

Marvel Comics cover by Chip Kidd and Peter Bagge

Striking cover by Chipp Kidd and Peter Bagge for Marvel's Strange Tales. Chip is interviewed by Sean Kollins about the cover here. Their exchange includes this:

Marvel.com: When the folks at Marvel first sent me a copy of this cover, I immediately wrote back and asked, "Did you send me the right jpeg, or is this thing screwed up?"

Chip Kidd: Well, that's great! I mean, that's the goal.

*Previously: Chip Kidd shares his opinion of Amazon's new ebook reader.

*Chip Kidd: Book One: Work: 1986-2006 is 27% off at Amazon.

Deadly guinea pig (link roundup)

Guinea pig/Predator spotted in this Deadly Cute Photoshop contest.

And a few more links:

1. Little Red Riding Hood stars in the sign for Fairyland Caverns.

2. Comic strip about Chip Kidd's upcoming Batman and Robin comic book.

3. Collection of orphan tweets - - tweets by people who signed up, tweeted once, and abandoned Twitter.

4. RoboGames 2009 trophies and ribbons.

*Previously: Old Predator.

*Find Predator action figures at eBay.

Deadly guinea pig (link roundup)

Guinea pig/Predator spotted in this Deadly Cute Photoshop contest.

And a few more links:

1. Little Red Riding Hood stars in the sign for Fairyland Caverns.

2. Comic strip about Chip Kidd's upcoming Batman and Robin comic book.

3. Collection of orphan tweets - - tweets by people who signed up, tweeted once, and abandoned Twitter.

4. RoboGames 2009 trophies and ribbons.

*Previously: Old Predator.

*Find Predator action figures at eBay.

Christmas greetings from The Space Giants

A Christmas card you'd keep on your mantle long after Christmas, courtesy of Chip Kidd and The Space Giants. High-res version here. And here's some footage of The Space Giants in action:



*Previously: Kidd's cover for Icarus at the End of Time.

*Buy Space Giants toys at eBay.

Cover for Chip Kidd's Bat-Manga!: The Secret History of Batman in Japan

Here's footage of Chip Kidd showing some of the Japanese Batman toys featured in the book:



You can preorder Chip Kidd's Bat-Manga!: The Secret History of Batman in Japan Amazon. Via.

*Previously: Chip Kidd's version of the Green Knight sure looks like a Scooby Doo villain.

*Buy Japanese Batman toys at eBay.

Chip Kidd's cover for Brian Greene's "Icarus At The End Of Time"

Spotted at Chip Kidd's blog, where he writes about creating the cover. The book can be preordered at Amazon.

I've watched the miniseries based on Green's The Elegant Universe close to a dozen times. Even though the science is mostly gibberish to me, it's the best-edited tv show about science I've ever seen. The four-disc set is available at Amazon.

*Previously: Chip Kidd predicts the impact Amazon's Kindle will have on the book-publishing industry.

Toy Story 3 crew t-shirt

A parody of Chip Kidd's iconic Jurassic Park logo. Visit /Film to see the back.

Toy Story 3 crew t-shirt

A parody of Chip Kidd's iconic Jurassic Park logo. Visit /Film to see the back.