Apes and Lasers, a collection of art pieces drawn from 2019 to 2024, is a remarkable calling card for this animator and cartoonist's talents. 162 pages of full-color cartoony fantasy, the book features a gallery of caricatured, beautifully drawn protagonists. While most are, I suspect, new creations, some wearing Kirby-tech armor, old standbys make appearances, too: Ninja Turtles, Wolverine, Judge Dredd, Dracula, Nosferatu, Ultraman, Tarzan and more.
Being more of a comic book guy than an animation diehard, I can only guess at Ian's inspirations. I see the quick, busy spontaneity of Mort Drucker and the propulsive action and foreshortening emblematic of the best anime (Hayato Date's work for Naruto comes to mind). Higginbotham's a superior colorist, too, with some backgrounds and color schemes reminding me of Genndy Tartakovsky's Samurai Jack. Somewhat contradictorily, these still drawings often have more action and convulsive energy than I see on the screen when watching animation (from any country) and I look forward to some of these creations making their debuts on screens big or small.
The two big takeaways I get from this collection are: extraordinary talent and drawing as fun. As with the best caricaturists, the artist has empathy for these creations in all their splendor - or lack of it - even the villainous-looking and not quite trustworthy among them.
Apes and Lasers and Ian's companion book, F-Yeah Frankenstein, can be purchased at Stuart NG Books: ian higginbotham - Stuart Ng Books
