The holidays are upon us, and even though you’re probably being flooded with gift guides, we here at the ‘squatch wanted to add some products that we think are awesome to your radar, whether you’re actually looking for gifts for people or you just troll gift guides looking for cool stuff for yourself. Don’t worry, I do that too.
This year we’re dividing our gift guides up by category, and we’re starting with a Christmas standard: Books. For some reason there are always a few books I want every year, and I don’t like buying them for myself very often so I put them on wishlists. There is no shortage of awesome, geeky books this year, but here are a few standouts that would make great gifts.
Star Wars: The Ultimate Action Figure Collection
I’m not much of a Star Wars collector anymore and I’ve never had many of the action figures, but this book looks awesome. The official description reads:
Here at last is the complete and definitive collection of the more than 2,500 Star Wars® action figures produced over the last 35 years. Fans and collectors can finally trace the evolution of each character in toy form from the time of their first appearance through the designs of today, with pages of amazing and inventive variations crafted to tell the stories of Luke Skywalker, Darth Maul, and literally hundreds more. Compiled by Stephen J. Sansweet, owner of the world’s largest private collection of Star Wars memorabilia, the book also showcases and details the rare, popular, forgotten, and beloved figures coveted by fans the world over, drawing figures from the feature film, video game, and cartoon realms of the vast Star Wars universe.
Twenty-five hundred action figures? Wow, that’s a lot of plastic. This sounds like the perfect gift for the adult Star Wars fan. [Amazon]
Adventure Time Vol. 1
I’m a huge Adventure Time nut, but since I don’t make it to comic book shops very often I haven’t read the new comic series. I’ve really wanted to, however, because they’re written by Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics fame, which just sounds like the perfect combination. This collects the first four comics and is pretty cheap, and is definitely on my wishlist. [Amazon]
Disney Carl Barks Collection
Growing up I was very aware of Carl Barks and how amazing his Disney Duck comics were supposed to be, but I didn’t have access to any issues to find out for myself. Luckily, Fantagraphics has recently started publishing a Carl Barks Collection, and they are very well put together. I have the first two volumes, and the third just came out. I finally realize why so many people love Barks’ comics. The art and writing is top-notch, and these hardcover volumes really do them justice. I hope it doesn’t take too many years for them to release the whole collection.
Trial of the Clone: An Interactive Adventure!
Trial of the Clone is a choose-your-own-adventure style book that takes the genre one stop further. You can choose to keep track of stats and iventory while you read/play, making it more like a game. It was written by Zach Weinersmith, creator of the popular Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal comic strip, and from what I’ve read it is a lot of fun. [Amazon]
Honorable Mentions
- The Art of Wreck-It Ralph
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures Vol. 1
- Jaws: Memories from Martha’s Vineyard – Read Rob’s Review
- Poster Art of the Disney Parks – Review Coming Soon (spoiler: awesome book)
- The Art and Making of Peanuts Animation: Celebrating Fifty Years of Television Specials – Read a review on Cartoon Brew
Have any other books on your wishlist this year? Let us know in the comments!
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ShezCrafti
