Book Review: The Great Showdowns
Written/drawn by Scott C. | Published by Titan Books | Format: Hardback, 144pp
“Han vs the green fellow. Chief Brody vs the very large shark. John McClane vs broken glass, and many, many more… Scott Campbell’s acclaimed Great Showdowns series, showing strangely good- natured confrontations between his favorite movie characters, finally gets the book collection fans have been demanding! Whether it’s Ripley vs the Alien Queen or Spinal Tap vs an undersized model of Stonehenge, these memorable moments of melee deserve to be celebrated. Behold, The Great Showdowns.”
Wherever you turn these days you can’t seem to escape Scott C’s The Great Showdowns – the book has captured the imagination of nerds and geeks all across the interwebs; and with good reason. Showcasing good-natured confrontations between some of the greatest characters in film history, this hardback book collects, for the first time, the much sought-after Great Showdowns series which was first exhibited as L.A.’s fantastic Gallery 1988 last year (on a side note, oh how I wish I could visit Gallery 1988 one day), in one perfectly-sized tome.
With a foreword by actor Neil Patrick Harris, who apparently owns some of Scott C’s original art, The Great Showdowns features some of the greatest tete-a-tete’s in movie history, including Han vs. Greedo, Arnie vs the Predator, Rocky vs Apollo Creed, Ripley vs the Alien queen and, as pictured below, Chief Brody vs Jaws and the Titanic vs an iceberg – plus many, many more!
Much like Olly Moss’ recent Silhouettes book, Scott C makes the conscious decision to not label any of his unique and charming hand painted confrontations in The Great Showdowns, instead leaving it up to the reader to determine just who is taking part in said confrontation – some are immediately identifiable, others less so. But one thing they all have in common is a distinctive “cuteness” and humour about them that makes this book hard to resist.
Definitely one for the coffee tables of every discerning movie geek, The Great Showdowns is available now from Titan Books, RRP £9.99
