The New Works and Visions of Dorian Cleavenger (2002) Dorian Cleavenger, Fanfare, £14.99, pbk, 128pp, ISBN 0-86562-050-4
This is a lovely collection of SF-fantasy-horror art and erotica, and fans of Cleavenger will be pleased that he still uses models culled from the ranks of 'Scream Queens' and Playboy, for instance Julie Strain, Brinke Stevens and Melissa Wolfe. And if some of the models are "the usual suspects", so too are some of the subjects, often comic related, such as Steven Hughes' Lady Death and the Warren/Harris character Vampirella (best realised in her original incarnation by José Gonzales). Indeed, many fans of Chaos! Comics and Image Comics will be very familiar with Cleavenger's work. The nature of some of the grotesque technological and fantastical transformations of his women challenge and often undermine the blanket concept of erotica and, in some cases, owe much to the likes of HR Giger and Clive Barker, and it is also easy to see the influences of some of his favourite artists, such as John Bolton, Jeff Jones and Frank Frazetta. My only problem with this lavish collection is that the binding adversely affects the double page spreads, but that's a minor caveat. Otherwise, highly recommended.
Tony Chester
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