Reviewing Art & Arcana

You have probably seen or heard about this massive tome on The Internets or maybe seen a review on The YouTubes. Art & Arcana is a ginormous, too-big-for-a-coffee-table Coffee Table book that's really a giant victory lap of sorts for the World's Most Popular Role-Playing Game. Not in a bad way.

This product was released in two versions; the one pictured on the left, a whatever Amazon is charging for it these days $50 investment that is equal parts revisionist history and art and marketing survey. For old-timers, there is a lot of "Oh, I remember that!" and "That's my favorite Module Art!" moments, along with company history that manages to be earnest in not quite dishing the dirt, but happily pointing out the quirks. It's big, it's heavy, it's hard to read. But for those of you who want something a little more upscale, read on, McDuff...

This is a picture of the clamshell of my book.

 This is what you've been waiting for: the deluxe, limited, collector's edition of Art & Arcana (ooOOOooo! aaaAAAAAaaah!) that's going for, well, again, talking about Amazon and its stupid algorithm, between $75 and $125. Geez, Louise, what a difference! Surely there are some amazing bells and whistles to warrant that kind of price increase, yes?

Okay, so, first off, there's an exclusive cover by some guy who goes by his online handle. He's done several exclusive covers for TSR and they are quite enamored with him. I say that because all of the things he's on are way more expensive than the regular editions of the rather pricey books to begin with. But whatever.

His exclusive artwork is printed on a special matte black cover stock in gold foil. To protect this treasure, the whole book is encased in a clamshell--not a slipcase but a clamshell--and also comes with a packet of posters and a reproduction of an old Gary Gygax module.

Here is the official spread of what you get for laying the extra moolah down. I'm talking about all of this because I got one of these for my birthday. I was excited for the book, and I'm something of a book collector, and so I was glad to get the deluxe model without having to spring for it. What follows, then, is my nit-picky book collecting ass talking about the thing I got for free and hopefully providing you with some worthwhile information in the event you are contemplating pulling the trigger for this book, or putting it on your Christmas list. 

When I opened the clamshell, my first thought was, "That's it?"

Here's my copy of the book, with the clamshell open. It looks pretty much like what's in the official ad for the product. Only, here's the thing: if you're ordering this from Amazon, beware and inspect your very expensive book, because the first one they sent me had four blunted corners on the clamshell design (which has oversized "boards" on the front and back, mimicking a book). This would be one of the reasons why, the next time one of these big-ass projects comes up, I'd suggest making a traditional slipcase. It's the same amount of material and way less chance of damage from hanging corners and shipping damage from an indifferent fulfillment company like Amazon. 

Big book! Note the smudges from my fingers.

I took the book out of the clamshell (my second one only had one slightly blunted corner, so I straightened it out myself and decided not to press my luck), and noticed right away that the damn thing is enormous; a literal tome, folio-sized, and several hundred pages of gorgeous full-color artwork. Dense.

The matte cover really showed off the gold foil. And then I noticed that it showed off something else, too: my fingerprints. Wherever I touched the cover in the opening and perusing of the book, there was noticeable marring and staining. I wiped it down with a microfiber cloth, and then stared at it for a minute or two, wondering how I was going to read the book without actually damaging my investment. I decided to wipe it down again after and started my journey, convinced that nothing else could possibly be wrong with so expensive a book.

This feels like humidity damage. It is probably
just wrinkling from the binding of so large a
book block. I'm curious to see if the regular
books have this problem.

Me and my big mouth. I immediately stumbled on the first page I turned to: I recognized the great illustration by Darlene from the original Dungeon Master's Guide and was charmed to see it here, until I noticed the terrible wrinkling on the page. I was about to pack it up and take it back to the post office when I noticed that the trouble seemed contained to the first few pages. This was a binding issue.

The book, she is too damn big.

As you might imagine, I was pissed.

Wizards of the Coast had Art & Arcana printed in China, because they can get it done for super cheap by paying their workers seventeen cents a day and a cup of dirty rice for lunch. And, you know, um, you get what you pay for.

Unless you're the consumer who plunked down the dough for a collector's item. Then you got greasy fingerprints, blunted corners, and pages that are so wrinkled they appear to be water-damaged.

I was ready to throw this book across the
room, but I was afraid I'd blow my back out.
Did I mention this book is huge?

I know I sound nit-picky, and that's why I took these pictures. I'm not this bad, normally, I swear. But when someone pays a lot of money for a book and it shows up looking like a remaindered item, that's bad news. And unfortunately, the fix is for the company to not do something like this again. Or, if you do, at least address these design flaws.

Finally! What I was expecting to see!

When I was able to page past the wrinkled and cruddy-looking pages, things smoothed out considerably. The print quality was great, gorgeous colors, and the pages were crammed full of artwork. It was a visual cornucopia, to be sure.

I don't mind the 2e to 4e coverage, since I wasn't around
for it the first time. 

The book itself is heavily slanted towards the early years. This is good. Our popular culture history is always spotty because fans are more interested in the shape of Batman's utility belt than how many art assistants Bob Kane employed to draw the book in his name. In this case, there's a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that we've not seen before, and that's pretty fascinating. There are also a lot of full color plates for some iconic paintings from our collective youth. You will not be disappointed.

The majority of the book looks this good.

One of the neat features in Art & Arcana was tracing the evolutionary development of classic monsters. There's a wonderful 1st edition to 5th edition progression so you can see how it all fits together and when, in some case, these goofy-looking monsters suddenly became terrifying and cool.

All hail the displacer beast!

My favorite part of the book was looking back on all of the Trampier and Otus and Dee and Willingham and Sullivan and Diesal and Darlene artwork and in many cases, seeing it reprinted without copy or trade dress so you can really appreciate the work that went into the early production of the game. It was a hard job, bringing all of this into existence, whole-cloth, and the nuts and bolts and screws really show on this early work. Again, not a bad thing, as I think it's important for people in their twenties and thirties to see said hard work and appreciate how far the game has come by seeing how it all started. I know, I know, that makes me a monster of sorts, but there it is. Learning and history and stuff.

Interesting, but really insider baseball.

But what about that wax paper envelope, you ask? Those cool bonus materials not available anywhere else? Okay, um, how shall I put this delicately? Are you fucking kidding me?

The facsimile reproduction of the Gygax module that ended up becoming the Tomb of Horrors is...charming...no, really, it is. If you ever were into 'Zine culture in the 1980's and 1990's, then you will get a kick out of the (relatively) crude hand drawings and annotation and typed pages with visible corrections, and as a historical object, it's pretty interesting, but this is something that didn't need to be included as a stand-alone object. given the amount of real estate available in Art & Arcana, this could have gotten two or three additional pages of coverage and that would have been plenty. As-is, this reproduction item is Star Trek Conduit; it goes nowhere and does nothing.

Huh? This feels like a half-measure.

The rest of the special package is yet another misfire. Several really nice pieces of artwork from every era from 1e to 5e are printed onto nice slick poster stock, and then folded in half or fourths in order to fit in the envelope.  Not all of the pieces, either; just some of them, which then begs the question: WHY DO THAT? What were you thinking, guys?

I hate to keep harping on this, but for the amount of money spent, you could have given us a selection of full-sized color plates from the book itself, suitable for framing in a Geek Den, Game Room, or Man-Cave, or simply left in the envelope as part of the original release. No folds. No weird creases to deal with. I mean, come on. If you're making a collectible, then make a damn collectible.

Look, I am all for Wizards of the Coast doing a victory lap. Forty years of Dungeons & Dragons should be feted, and most especially, its development from fringe hobby to sub-culture to mainstream. As a part of the pop cultural zeitgeist, this cannot be overstated. But this special edition is a thing that did not need to happen. The book, as an object unto itself, while being a little unwieldy, is nevertheless more than enough to properly acknowledge Dungeons & Dragons as a cultural touchstone. I am very disappointed by the special edition. Maybe someone out there has kept their copy in shrink wrap, the better to put it away on a shelf and bring out in fifty or seventy five years. But I am a reader. Most people I know who buy the book are going to want to dig into it. I think the clamshell is a misfire and I hate the decisions to produce large posters and then fold them into an envelope. For twice the cost of the regular edition, the extras are not well-thought out. Had the special edition been in a regular slipcase and come with an 11" x 14" set of Portfolio style plates commemorating some of the iconic artwork from forty years of Dungeons & Dragons, then that would have been a slam dunk. If I could trade my special edition in for a regular book, I would do it in a heart beat.

Bottom Line: I would recommend Art & Arcana to any D&D fan, past or present. This is a perfect Geek Gift for yourself or that Uber-Nerd in your life. Get this under your Christmas Tree, stat. That is, the regular edition. Avoid the bells and whistles version at all costs. It is incredibly, unbelievably not worth it. The special stuff isn't special enough, and the alternate format causes more problems than it solves. Art & Arcana is a book you will want to read, and without worrying that you're messing up your precious investment.