Jan 12 2009
There’s more to the Criterion Collection than DVDs…
…or laserdiscs, for that matter, if you go back that far.
Most of you probably know about the Criterion Collection at this point: the high-falutin’ company responsible for some of the most lavishly-produced DVD editions of cinematic treasures on the planet.
What you may not know is that Criterion is staking out territory in a lot of interesting — and fun! — new territory. Aside from some gorgeous-looking on-line streaming of free (yes, free) films, they’re also dishing out something that really gets the inner geek in me salivating: limited-edition prints of some of the amazing cover art created for their discs. A lot of this stuff happens to be by comic book talents whose work I’ve loved and followed for many years: Jaime Hernandez, Bill Sienkiewicz, and Darwyn Cooke (whose terrific illustration for the enjoyable 1959 sci-fi oddity First Man Into Space is pictured above). Pretty exciting that they’ve made these available. Most sell for $125, though Hernandez’s slim, horizontal Divorce Italian Style print goes for $100.
So go ahead and visit the Criterion shop, and browse a lot of other goodies while you’re at it. If you’ve run out of shelf space for DVDs, now you can decorate your walls.
