Gabriele Dell’Otto is an Italian illustrator whose work you might know from the fully painted Secret War (2005) mini-series or his fantastic covers from Silver Surfer, Annihilation, Nova and Heralds of Galactus. Dell’Otto attends many conventions where he does commissions, sign artwork, sells limited edition lithographs and artbooks. A few years ago I got a hold of his (signed!) artbook; The Marvel Art of Gabriele Dell’Otto and to see some of his incredible artwork collected in one book was amazing. This book is a must-have!

It’s a hardcover book and has about 127 pages, it features a nice slipcover, a signed print of Daredevil and two fold-out posters of Dr. Doom versus the Thing and Daredevil. I’ve been told every copy had a different signed print, some had Captain America while others had a Black Widow print. The only downside of this book is that it features text in French, German and Italian. No English! Why they decided to do this boggles my mind, you have this great artbook and they decide to publish it in a non-universal language. Great, isn’t it?

Sketches

The first section of the book features Dell’Otto’s incredibly detailed sketches of Elektra, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Captain America and Iron Man. Some of these look like ideas of paintings Dell’Otto wanted to make.  At the end of this section it also has line-art of The Submariner, The Fantastic Four and The Punisher.

Experiments With Lighting

The second section shows off Dell’Otto’s incredible range as an artist, as these are all convention commissions which he had to finish within a few hours. Some are painted, others are done with a white pencil on a black or grey sheet of paper.

Fold-Out Posters

There are four different four-page spread fold-out posters of Daredevil, Dr. Doom versus the Thing, Dr. Strange and Wolverine. Personally, I don’t know why these were printed at such a ridiculous size, I absolutely love the artwork but I think the the art would look better printed on either one page, or a two-page spread without all those ugly folds. Either way, it’s a nice addition.

Full-Colour Artwork

The third section is a collection of painted commissions, a few published comic book covers and sketches of Dr. Doom, Wolverine, Hulk, Iron Man and others.

Cover Gallery

The fourth section displays Dell’Otto’s full colour comic book covers, most of them were published in Germany as they have a trend of putting exclusive covers on their comic books as a limited edition. Some paintings are big enough to print them as a two-page spread.

Extras

As said before the book comes with a few extras; the book itself is signed, it includes a signed Daredevil print, four fold-out posters and a making-off a painting by Dell’Otto.

Final Verdict

This book is a must-have for every (future) Dell’Otto fan and for 35$ (25€) this book is a steal. Don’t be fooled by the 127 page-count, it will satisfy everyone who appreciates art. If you want to buy this book, be quick as the price is rising. The retail price was 35$ and was a convention-exclusive but one Ebay auction ended at 110$ (74€), if you look hard enough you might still get it for the original retail price. Buy it!