Sunday's New York Times Book Review included a two-page article by Steven Heller that was primarily devoted to two books published by Last Gasp, The Original Art of Basil Wolverton ($35.00) and The Adventures of Herge, Creator of Tintin ($29.95).  Heller begins with an appreciation of Last Gasp's collection of Wolverton art from the collection of Glenn Bray, which was published in conjunction with Grand Central and has been available since last fall.  Being ignored for five months, as this volume largely was by the mainstream press, is par for the course for Wolverton, the modern master of the grotesque whose powerful influence on a generation of comic artists through his contributions to Mad Magazine has typically been overlooked in histories of the comics medium (Wolverton was unjustly left out of the recent 'Master of American Comics' exhibition that toured the country).

Michael Farr, whose The Adventures of Herge, Creator of Tintin is due out in April from Last Gasp, is a former reporter for Reuters and one of the world's leading authorities on all things Tintin.  Heller describes The Adventures of Herge as 'a stunning collection of artifacts, including pre-Tintin drawings, Tintin sketches, newspaper clippings, magazine and book covers and personal photographs.' Fans of the quiff-headed journalist will certainly have plenty to be thankful for this spring as Last Gasp is also publishing Farr's Tintin & Co. ($29.95), which contains delightful illustrated essays on all the major characters in the Tintin saga, in March.