Remember when Bond oozed style, sex appeal and wasn’t subjected to plugging a Ford Focus 1.4LS and fancy gents watches? No? Neither do I. Luckily Penguin have stepped in and injected some cool with these soon to be released book covers for the 100th anniversary of Ian Fleming’s birth.
The amazing artwork for the books was created by San Francisco based artist Michael Gillette under the art direction of Jonathan Grey. The covers really harp back to the golden age of the illustrated film poster with simple elegant compositions and fluid hand-drawn type integral to the design. A few words from Gillette…
“I’ve always been inspired by pop art and pop culture. This was a job where I could indulge that to the hilt. I was trying to distill all the things I’d enjoyed about Bond and impress those times in to the various women and the typography - psychedelic posters, Saul Bass, Milton Glaser, films, pop music, it’s all in there.”
Salivate over the full set on Michael Gillette’s personal blog.
Bond has always been about flogging merchandise. Even on ‘You only Live Twice’ - pretty much the best bond film ever - Bond was watching the activities of super villain Blofeld’s henchmen on a natty 7inch Sony screen. Just before he switched over to Debbie Does Dallas…
Still, nice covers. When will they be at my local library?
Written by Hugh Foster on July 5th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Agreed on both accounts. You Only Live Twice is easily the best film to follow the traditional Bond formula: great gadgets, great set pieces, and a secret base hidden in a volcano.
Also, there’s an hilarious bit towards the end: when the control room starts exploding, the cat carried by Donald Pleasance gets scared and scratches the hell out of his arm. Ace.
Written by Garbo on July 7th, 2008 at 11:53 am