Iron Man (Iron Man: the Art of Iron Man) [ハードカバー]

I'm pleasantly surprised that this book actually comes with a slipcase. The cover art for the slipcase and book are also different from what's shown. The hardcover is very beautiful, smooth matt, and features a painting of Iron Man by Ryan Meinerding, who's still the concept artist for the second movie.

At 224 pages, this book features much more Iron Man designs that the first book, The Art of Iron Man. There's the new Iron Man suit which you can recognise by the triangle RT on the chest, the Suitcase Suit, The War Machine, plenty of drones and Whiplash. There are illustrations, 3D models, screenshots, physical sets.

The Iron Man suit designs are really fantastic. It's more streamline, cooler and just mean at the same time. They are beautifully drawn with lots of details. You can see the different plates, metal shine and even battle damaged suits, which will make you go "Ouch, that must have really hurt." Many of the designs have the high drool factor and deserved to be made into action figures.

If you've watched the trailers, you'll see that Iron Man was surrounded by lots of drones. Well, those drones are also included. There are Army, Navy, Airforce and Marine drones. As if it's not enough, there are Feebles also, which are the mechas designed by other countries. Feebles are really cool because they convey personality of their home countries through the designs. Mecha fans will be delighted.

About a quarter of the book is on the environment and set. And the bulk of that is actually on the Stark Expo, featuring illustrations, miniatures, etc. Right at the back there are some storyboard sequences and more miscellaneous art like the re-designed RT, Stark's cars, labs, and other stuff. Whiplash armor is actually a physical set and there's an impressive photo showing all the parts separately, like LEGO bricks, but in metal.

This book is as good as or even better than the first art book.

Highly recommended.

(There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

I've bought a lot of movie "art of" books and this is definitely my favorite of all that I've bought. The first film lent itself well to an "art of" book and with all the new designs and characters in Iron Man 2, this one is really great for an Iron Man fan like myself. The quality of the book is top notch too... comes in a very nice slipcase and a hard-bound printed cover and does NOT have one of those irritating dust jackets that you either have to store separately while you're looking at the book or risk damaging.

I wish it had twice as much art as it does (it'd be too thick to pick up if that was the case) but I love everything in it - designs for the Mk IV, V and VI armors plus War Machine, Black Widow, Nick Fury and more. Very, very cool and a must have if you enjoyed the first "art of" Iron Man book.

The second book does pack in the artwork as mentioned, but the edition comes in a slipcase versus the hardcover version of the first book (I prefer hardcover to slipcase). Be forewarned, majority of the book is comprised of endless, though technically well executed, variations on different iron suits: suitcase versions, military versions, Warm Machine versions, etc. There are storyboard work along with designs as well. All in all, the book is pretty much as expected: a huge collection of mechanical designs done by Photoshop wizards (with a scattering of 3D models).