Great Showdowns: The Revenge is a fun little picture book
Scott Campbell’s newest book in his Great Showdowns series is now available, and it’s a fun little flip book worthy of any coffee table or bathroom library. Great Showdowns: The Revenge is Campbell’s third book, and it features quirky watercolor illustrations of some of the most iconic face-offs and character combinations in film history. Inside, you’ll find characters and inanimate objects sporting smiley faces from movies like Tombstone, Easy Rider, Gangs of New York, Pineapple Express, The World’s End, Requiem for a Dream, Groudhog Day, and so many more. Honestly, and somewhat shamefully, there were handfuls of illustrations that I didn’t recognize, but matching the watercolor to the movie is half the fun.
Take a quick peek inside the book, and read my short review of Great Showdowns: The Revenge from Titan Books after the jump.
Again, I’m not familiar with every movie referenced in the book, but it’s a lot of fun trying to guess. Campbell does a good job of identifying central characters and pairing them together, even if not all of them are “showdowns,” so to speak. Like that Easy Rider image up above. I’m not sure I’d consider the cast to be versus the road, but it’s still pretty great. The Gangs of New York showdown image is a little more appropriate in it’s bad vs. good guy style. Who knows, maybe by book three Campbell is stretching for content. Here are some more pairings from the book:
It took me a minute to recognize the Requiem for a Dream image, but it’s kind of awesome. How many of the illustrations can you place? Can you name every movie up above? They’re pretty silly, all things considered, and Campbell seems to love slapping smiley faces on everything. Like that Requiem refrigerator. It’s definitely not a happy fridge, but putting a smiley face on it makes the image silly in a fun and innocent sort of way. In terms of content, what you see is essentially what you get. Aside from an introduction and foreword, Great Showdowns: The Revenge is a super simple flip book with one image per page. Some two-page spreads are used for bigger illustrations, but for the most part it’s one movie for every page. So, all together, the book has just over 130 showdown images, and you can flip through the thing pretty quickly in one sitting.
As you can see, Campbell covers a wide variety of movies ranging from comedies to classics, action to horror, but for the most part his watercolors are upbeat and (yes, again) silly. There’s plenty to like here, and my favorites are probably the Attack the Block two-page spread (pictured above), the Firefly/Serenity illustration, and maybe the one for The Cabin in the Woods. Great Showdowns: The Revenge is a fun conversation piece or a casual time killer. Slap it on the coffee table and let friends flip through it, or take it with you to the john for a few minutes of entertainment. It’s essentially an art book, with very little content outside of the illustrations, and more cynical viewers might say, “but my 4-year-old could do that.” You wouldn’t be wrong, as most of the watercolors are pretty simple and straightforward, but Campbell has made a living doing what he enjoys. If this one catches your eye, definitely pick it up and track down the previous two books. They’re worth flipping through!
