Book Review: The Art of Alice: Madness Returns

The Art of Alice: Madness Returns

The Art of Alice: Madness Returns is a video game art book. A very good one.

The book's a 184 page hardcover published by Dark Horse. It's in a large vertical format. The paper is thick low glossy. Binding is superb. Production value is top notch.

The concept art and ideas are awesome. There are out-of-the-world background paintings, character designs, props, weapons and gruesome creations. Also included are discarded ideas that didn't make it - usually the too abstract.

When you mix a classic like Alice in Wonderland with pop culture, video game designers, concept artists and throw in a Victorian-gothic theme, you get very strange new world. A world so dangerous Alice has to be equipped with a kitchen knife at all times or sometimes a Bazooka firing hammer (yes, hammer) or a teapot cannon.

Every page brings a little element of surprise and twist. You can see crows with baby faces, Jack the Ripper with tentacles, Alice helping a mother giving birth to a load of kids (gruesome concept), an angler fish with human legs, cow birds, steampunk-like contraptions, a Chinese Humpty Dumpty, flying pig noses, embellished pieces of weaponry, etc. There are lots of mix and matches for things that shouldn't go together.

The environment and set designs are amazing. It looks like some gothic Victorian hell that Alice is treading through. The landscape is ever changing along the game. They are beautiful and detailed. They totally nailed the mood.

There's also plenty to read with the little captions that describe the designs, characters and stories. It gives a nice idea of how such a strange game came about. It's all very interesting to read.

Some of the artists involved in the book are Ken Wong, Sun Guoliang, Luis Melo, Hong Lei, Wu Yuehan, Ben Kerslake, Nako, Tyler Lockett, Fellipe Martins, Pu Jinsong, Wang Shenghua, Yuan Shaofeng, Jin Lei.

This is an outstanding art book. It should be one of the best for 2011.

The Art of Alice: Madness Returns is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | JP | CN)

The Art of Alice: Madness Returns

The Art of Alice: Madness Returns

The Art of Alice: Madness Returns

The Art of Alice: Madness Returns

The Art of Alice: Madness Returns

The Art of Alice: Madness Returns

The Art of Alice: Madness Returns

The Art of Alice: Madness Returns

The Art of Alice: Madness Returns

The Art of Alice: Madness Returns

The Art of Alice: Madness Returns

The Art of Alice: Madness Returns

The Art of Alice: Madness Returns

The Art of Alice: Madness Returns

The Art of Alice: Madness Returns

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Here are direct links to the book:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de | Amazon.fr | Amazon.it | Amazon.co.jp | Amazon.cn

Video game Alice: Madness Returns:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de | Amazon.fr | Amazon.it | Amazon.co.jp

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15 Comments

I checked the publishers

I checked the publishers website and the 2nd printing is sold out. Looks like the 3rd printing will be available August 31st (according to Things From Another World). Dark Horse is selling an eBook version for $9.99 if you can't wait that long.

Same here, criz. I've had it

Same here, criz. I've had it ordered from Amazon for a couple months now. Funny, I was hoping to flip through it before picking up the game. Now, I'll have it beaten before the book shows up :)

IMO,i find this is BullS**T,

IMO,i find this is BullS**T, so many ppl buy this book are not even fans of the game, when this game was release bout 2 weeks ago locally, no many ppl even bought it, that means not many fans of this locally, yet in kino all of the artbooks are sold out???must be a classic case of local collectors here being monkey see monkey do .

Also for guys out there still hunting & can't wait for the august printing. The comic shop beside Kino in B J still has a copy ,which cost only a few dollars more than kino

Yeah why don't you settle

Yeah why don't you settle down, the bottom line is that this lovely artbook is a vastly more enjoyable experience than the unfortunately mediocre game, I don't blame anyone that chooses this but skips the game completely, they are correct to do so, IMO.

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