May 17, 2010

Upcoming Spy Books: The Avengers: A Celebration

The Avengers Declassified reports that Titan Books will release a 160-page hardcover book this fall to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the greatest of all spy shows: The Avengers: A Celebration - 50 Years of TV's Most Stylish Show by Marcus Hearn. According to Titan's product description, "Hearn has been granted unparalleled access to the show’s production archives and has collected together a fabulous array of material to celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Avengers. Lavishly illustrated, with many unpublished stills, behind-the-scenes photos, and snaps from the ABC & LWT private archive, this is a spectacular portrait of the world's best-loved cult action-adventure series, and its classic sequel, The New Avengers."  I'm not quite sure The New Avengers is deserving of the epithet "classic," but other than that, this sounds great!  Hearn is a good author who knows his subjects, and anyone familiar with previous Titan hardcovers like The Hammer Story, Hammer Glamour (both written or co-written by Hearn) or Starring Sherlock Holmes knows what to expect from this book.  All of these large-format hardcovers are glossy and, indeed, lavishly illustrated.  They're usually a bit on the style over substance side, but as the subtitle says, The Avengers was a stylish show, so that's kind of appropriate!  Plus, we haven't really had an Avengers book of that sort, and I have no doubt that Hearn will unearth all sorts of great pictures, as he did for Hammer Glamour. I'm looking forward to this, for sure!

2 comments:

  1. I'm looking forward to this!

    BTW, will there be a DVD reissue of the Peel Megaset? I have it, but there's just something wrong about such an essential show going for big $$$ on the secondary market.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Funnily enough, I just did a small scene with Joanna Lumley on Monday this week (I'm a bit part player on Mistresses)
    Back in the 70s I spent a few days with Keith Wilson, production designer of Space:1999 and he had just heard that he was going be the designer on the second year of The New Avengers. He gleefully told me that he couldn't wait to do something to both Gambit and Purdeys's living quarters...
    BTW; this was while we were walking around Pinewood Studios, the base for the series.

    Always been a huge fan of the various incarnations of the Avengers. Can't wait for this book!

    ReplyDelete