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By: Jed Lind
In the spirit of 2007’s acclaimed Beasts!, editor/designer Jacob Covey has assembled an entirely new line-up of over 90 artists who did not appear in the first Beasts! volume. Like the first book, the deluxe collection includes a Who’s Who of the contemporary art world, collectively crafting a menagerie of mythological creatures, monsters, beasts and things that go bump in the night, superbly laid out in breathtaking two-page spreads per beast. Featuring all-new work by over 90 artists including Blex Bolex, Brian Chippendale, Craig Thompson, Dan Zettwoch, Dash Shaw, David B., Eleanor Davis, Ellen Forney, Femke Hiemstra, Gene Deitch, Jaime Hernandez, Travis Louie, Thomas Allen, Jon Vermilyea, Kim Deitch, Lilli Carré, Mark Todd, Olivier Schrauwen, Paul Hornschemeier, Peter Bagge, Ray Fenwick, Stephan Blanquet, Taylor McKimens, Tom Neely, Tomer Hanuka, Yuko Shimizu and dozens more.
New this year: Linked titles lead to the original post, if one exists. (The link for Maps and Legends goes to Karen Horton’s beautiful photos over at design:related.) And back from last year: there’s a poll at the bottom of the post. Voting is open until Dec 31; I’ll post the results shortly after the new year begins.
A very small number of titles were actually published in December 2007. Last year’s list was published early (Nov 15), and a few of the books published at the end of 2007 really needed to be included here. And the cover for The Medium Is The Massage? A reissue, but too wonderful not to include.
Lastly, this year’s list has more U.K titles than in the past, so some designer credits are missing. Please help me give credit where there is none; leave a comment or send an email if you’ve got some info or need to correct any errors of attribution.
