Flesk Publications has three hardcovers lined up for the coming months, collecting classic comic work, new comic work by the best in the business, and paintings by one of the finest artists in pop culture. 

Jules Verne’s Twenty-Thousand Leagues under the Sea adapts the classic science fiction novel into comic form, with art by Gary Gianni, the current artist of the Prince Valiant Sunday newspaper strips, and color by Jim and Ruth Keegan.  The 64-page 9” x 12” hardcover will include 44 graphic novel pages and 10 illustrations.  Gianni won an Eisner Award for his art for “Heroes” in Batman:   Black and White.  The street date for this volume is September 2nd.  MSRP is $24.95.  A hardbound limited signed edition is also planned. 

Al Williamson’s Flash Gordon:  A Lifelong Vision of the Heroic will collect all of Williamson’s major works featuring the character in 256-page 9” x 12” hardcover and softcover editions, shipping in January.  Williamson worked on Flash Gordon in three stints:  the King Comics stories form the 1960s, the 1980 movie adaptation, and the 1994 Marvel miniseries.  In addition to Williamson’s comic work on Flash Gordon, the book collects his drawings of the character for commercial illustration and prints, his assists on the Flash Gordon comic strip, and largely unpublished images dating from Williamson’s childhood through the end of his career.  Mark Schultz contributes an essay, and Sergio Aragones provides the introduction.  MSRP is $44.95 for the hardcover, $29.95 for the paperback.

William Stout:  Prehistoric Life Murals collects Stout’s mural paintings for three museums, the Houston Museum of Natural Science, Disney World’s Animal Kingdom, and the San Diego Natural History Museum, in a 144-page, 12” x 10” hardcover with jacket, due out in October.  Stout’s The Dinosaurs—A Fantastic New View of a Lost Era, published in 1981, inspired Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park and established Stout as the premier paleoartist of our generation.  Ray Harryhausen provides an introduction.  MSRP is $39.95.  A hardbound limited signed edition is also planned. 

We first became aware of Flesk via its incredible Steve Rude:  Artist in Motion hardcover, a gorgeous collection of illustrations covering Rude’s full career and publishing many never-before-seen works.  Other Flesk titles include The Prince Valiant Page, by Gary Gianni; James Bama:  American Realist, by Brian M. Kane; Mark Schultz:  Varous Drawings Volume Three; Franklin Booth:  Painter with a Pen, by John Fleskes; and Joseph Clement Coll:  A Legacy in Line, also by Fleskes.