Title: The Great Showdowns
Release Date: October 30, 2012
Publisher: Titan Books
Source: Owned, bought from Amazon.com
Genre(s): Art, Film, Pop Culture

Review Spoilers: N/A

If we were pitting the two of these books againts one another in a battle to the death, I honestly think that this first installment in the Great Showdowns book series would come out the winner. The book starts out strong, grabbing readers instantly on the title page by offering up a scene inspired by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows with Voldemort and Nagini on one side and Harry – wand at the ready – and Neville with sword in hand on the other.

An introduction by Neil Patrick Harris follows and Neil basically fanboys over Scott C. as much as I did. Except he some how makes it sound way cooler. After which we get a brief introduction by the author before we’re immediately thrown into a whirlwind of pop culture nostalgia.

Going into this book my only real concern was that I wouldn’t recognize a lot of the drawings. Online Scott C. includes a quote from every movie with each drawing so if you don’t immediately recocgnize them you can always google the quote and generall figure it out. Sadly, the book does not do this – possibly for copyright reasons? Who knows. But that was my main concern and it was completely unfounded. Some of the highlights of this book include drawings of the Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones, Planet of the Apes, Aliens, the Shining, Starship Troopers, Jurassic Park, Tron, Star Wars, and the Wizard of Oz among so many more.

Some of the pieces are a little more diluted or raw than some of the stuff you’ll find on the Tumblr. That’s likely because this book seems to include a good amount of his earlier work from the beginning of the Great Showdowns series. They are still as awesome as any other and this book get a solid five stars from me. It’s fun, adorable, and its the kind of book you can share with anyone. I mean, seriously. It makes Se7en some how adorable. ( )

This is an art book full of prints of Scott C.'s watercolors featuring showdowns between movie characters, like the Ghostbusters vs. Slimer. I was surprised at the weight of the book; it's pretty hefty for such a small book. The style of the art is simple and cute. Really. I find it amazing how just a line or two can clearly define for me just what character is portrayed. There were several movies I didn't recognize, however, so I wish there was an index at the back to help define the images. As a Muppet fan, I'm also sad that one of the paintings mentioned by Neil Patrick Harris in his introduction is not present in the book: Kermit vs. Doc Hopper. Overall, fantastic book. In fact I bought two copies so that I could spread the love at Christmas. ( )