Industrial ruins have almost become a photographic genre by now, photographers swarm over collapsing structures, especially in America and Eastern Europe to capture man-made decay and frequently taken over by nature. David McMillan's photos reveal all of this but his work takes it to another level.
The two hundred photos in the book concentrate on the effects of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl but what makes these remarkable photos interesting is that, starting in 1994, they have been taken during McMillian's twenty-two visits to the area and especially the city of Pripyat. By the nature of the place, it's a no-go zone and deserted except for officialdom and scientists though a few of the photos show some locals who still live within the thirty-kilometer Exclusion Zone.
By returning so many times McMillian has been able to capture the same buildings slowly falling apart and the natural world taking over. A good example of this are two photos on a spread of a bookstore with a partially collapsed roof, one was taken in 2011 showing the rubbish-strewn interior the other, taken in 2017, shows a mass of foliage totally covering the floor and growing up chunks of concrete and twisted strips of metal. Another spread with two photos shows a 1996 shot of an undisturbed swimming pool (used by officials and the military) but by 2017 the water was gone, tiles are slowly falling off the pool and nearby trees and bushes growing into the interior through broken windows. McMillian is particularly attracted to floors of a school, the kitchen, classrooms, gymnasium, kindergarten with their mixture of rubble, books, paints, toys all mixed together and in some photos almost creating abstract patterns because the items are nearly unrecognisable.
I thought the coverage was particularly impressive. general shots of Chernobyl, vehicles (and a helicopter) used in the clean-up slowly rusting, trees and other vegetation and of course many images of decaying buildings inside and out. There is an excellent illustrated essay by Claude Baillargeon about McMillian's many trips to the area, this really should have been in the first pages rather than at the back of the book.
The book's production is the usual Steidl high standard. 175 screen printing on a creamy matt art. A nice touch is having all the captions centred under the photos. There are five fold-out pages as well.
I think this chunky paperback was originally conceived as a box of cards. The paper is postcard thick and captions for each cover are on the following page, if it was a conventional book the paper would have been thinner and the captions on the left-hand pages opposite the covers. The Economist, like other publications, used type only on the cover for decades, the first graphic design in the book is from December 24, 1960 (the white on red logo arrived in 1959).
Mostly the covers are very clever graphic solutions to sum up something in the news, the odd ones out are those that use a stock color photo to tie in with a telling headline. Unlike many weeklies the Economist doesn't necessarily have to have an eye-grabbing cover, subscription sales far exceed those from newsstands.
The pages are thick enough to be easily removed from the book if you wanted to make a framed collage of covers
Originally published in 2010 this reprint coincides with the release of the movie 'Shazam!' The book's 246 pages are crammed with Captain Marvel collectibles and ephemera (from the collection of Harry Matetsky). In 1940 the second edition of the monthly Whiz Comics introduced Captain Marvel who, as ace reporter Billy Batson for radio station WHIZ, only had say the magic word SHAZAM to instantly change into the world's mightiest mortal and search out evil-doers everywhere.
Fawcett Publications realized they were onto a winner with the comic, especially when it outsold the successful Superman so they started licensing all kinds of merchandise to readers. The Captain Marvel Club at one time had 400,000 members all eager to check their mailboxes for the latest button, watch, key chain, paper rocket, tin toys, figurines, clothing, patches, transfers and the all important club letter from the Captain himself.
All of this provides the material for the book and Chip Kidd's exuberant design makes it all sparkle on the page. There is a complete fifteen page story from a 1941 edition of the comic, a couple of interesting spreads show the inked artwork on the left, complete with white paint retouching and on the facing page the comic page printed in color, a handsome gatefold showing a 1941 Captain Marvel jigsaw and pages of collectibles, all in color.
Publishers don't mess with winning formulae so Captain Marvel Jr, arrived in 1941 and Billy Batson's long lost sister Mary turned up in 1942 to say SHAZAM (Selena, Hippolyta, Ariadne, Zephyrus, Aurora, Minerva) and Mary Marvel appeared before your eyes with lots of merchandise for girls. Perhaps it was stretching the concept too far with Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, featured on several pages at the back of the book.
Fans of the golden age of comics will enjoy this remarkable collection of Captain Marvel magic.
