Superheroes: The Heroic Visions of Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell- Featuring X-Men, Spiderman, Spiderwoman, Silver Surfer, The Hulk

by Boris Vallejo (Illustrator), Julie Bell

Superheroes is a collection of awe-inspiring original artwork created by husband and wife team Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell. Along with using a classic sense of style to create and master sensuous full color oil paintings, Boris Vallejo is best known as the visual creator of Conan the Barbarian. Combining strength with sensuality and infusing the human form with incredible power and motion, fantasy artist Julie Bell continues to use her "metal flesh" trademark to produce dramatic works of art. This collection overflows with superhuman characters captured in the act of saving the world, destroying evil protagonists and battling dark beasts. Featuring fantastic figures such as Spiderman, Captain America, and the X-Men, these paintings represent the best of Boris and Julie.

Genres: Art, Superheroes, Nonfiction, Comic Book

160 pages, Paperback

First published September 11, 2000

About the author

Boris Vallejo is a Peruvian-born American painter. He immigrated to the United States in 1964, and he currently resides in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Vallejo works almost exclusively in the fantasy and erotica genres. His paintings have graced the covers of dozens of science fiction paperbacks and are featured in a series of best-selling glossy calendars. Subjects of his paintings are typically Sword and sorcery gods, monsters, and well-muscled male and female barbarians engaged in battle. His latest works still retain heavy fantasy elements, but lean more towards the erotic rather than pure fantasy themes.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this was my Paper Tiger read for last night and all I can say I can be really unobservant at times (no I am not looking for everyone to agree with me).

You see when I first found out about this title I thought the art looked very similar to a range of trading cards my friends collected while I was at Uni - little did I know that this book pretty much was based off the back of the 120 or so images that had been commissioned for the very series I was thinking of.

So yes bit of a "doh" moment there in my case - but I have to say it was really great looking on the images I vaguely remember from all those years ago but not only that many of them were full page in size allowing the detail and quality of the image to come through.

Now since then there have been numerous superhero movies released containing many of the character depicted in this book (for some there are in fact several versions) and it was great fun seeing how many were very similar while others now carry little or no similarity at all. A fascinating piece of super hero history from my past

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible art book but then what else should one expect from these 2 Fantasy/SiFi art masters. Stunning portrayals of some of the most popular superhero and heroines. Very recommended

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* · Rating 4 out of 5]

I juggled between three and four stars with this one. A bonus is the hardcover has large images and is generous with them, which is the main point of the book. No glossy pages, but that doesn't remove enjoyment. There are short, brief intros to some of the characters, not about the art or process or anything like that. Details of the artists or their goals, or any of their words, pretty much any text nitty-gritty is left out. The artwork is what's stunning - I couldn't imagine being so talented a painter. I leaned more toward Boris, as Julie's stuff was too soft for my tastes. The villains in Spiderman and such were especially creepy, they had a knack for making them look evil in a plausible, serious way that other comics and cartoons of them never did.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Both of their works are amazing, and the book’s dimensions are large enough to really let you examine each piece. If you like superhero paintings, this is a solid coffee table book to add to your collection.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5…almost entirely gorgeous Marvel panels (and four DC team up pieces)!

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

The images in this collection depict many of the comic book heroes in classic action poses, done only as Vallejo and Bell could do them. The level of detail is amazing, you can the strain in their muscles and faces as the heroes put forth their maximum effort in their current task.
The heroes are from both the Marvel and DC lines and most of the images were developed on contract as illustrations for trading cards. It is easy to see why those cards would immediately become popular, they are truly works of art in the classic sense.
If you are a fan of comic books or artwork or both, you will love this book.

[Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a giant fan of both Boris and Julie so I loved flipping through this.