We just sent Modern Masters Volume 11: Charles Vess to the printer yesterday (which is the reason I’m a couple days behind on blogging). I’ll admit that, while I’m familiar with his work, I wasn’t a rabid follower of it; but after seeing this book, I’m about to be. He’s just… so… darned… good at what he does. Editor Eric Nolen-Weathington used the word “enchanting” to describe it in his promo copy, and I think that’s precisely the right for it. Even when he’s drawing Spider-Man instead of elves and faeries, everything just comes across as magical. There’s a gorgeous color two-pager included that shows Spidey chasing the Hobgoblin, which I’ll link to here, but this small size doesn’t begin to do it justice (it’s shown huge and full-color in the book). Chris Irving conducted the interview for it, which is one of the liveliest we’ve done to date. With the Stardust movie coming out this summer, Vess’ fame will continue to grow even larger, and I think this book does a nice job of giving his fans an intimate look into his world.

Spider-Man, Hobgoblin TM & ©2007 Marvel Characters, Inc.