Alex Nino is one of the most unique and distinctive artists to work in comics. This massive 1977 art book was the first book devoted to this Filipino comic artist--just five years after he entered the American comic book market!

It was only produced in this deluxe signed & numbered edition of 1000 copies, and it sold out immediately, even at the hefty price of $60 in 1977. (I only ever saw one copy for sale during its original release--in a comic book store in San Francisco--and I bought it on the spot!)

Features of this book:

• 30 color plates and over 250 black & white illustrations, most of which are full page plates.
• Four fold-outs measuring 20 x 13 inches.
• Two Portfolios set in Alex's bizarre fantasy world of Gruaga, The Fifth Corner of the World.
• A biography of the artist by Orvy Jundis.

Chapters:

• Introduction
  
• Philippine Comic Work (including 32 covers and 24 splash pages and centerspreads)
  
• Portfolio I: Gruagan Adventure
  
• Portfolio II: The Legend of Na
  
• Color Illustrations & Paintings
  
• Black & White Illustrations
  
• Philippine Horror Fantasies
  
• Sketch Book Drawings

Most of the images in this book are previously unpublished. Excellent reproduction throughout, almost entirely from the original art.

This was the first book published by Chris Zavisa whose Christopher Enterprises published numerous fantasy posters and portfolios by Alex Nino, Berni Wrightson, Michael Kaluta, Stephen Hickman, and others. Land of Enchantment would later publish Berni Wrightson: A Look Back and Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King and Wrightson.

The thin dustjacket produced for this book is about an eighth of an inch taller than the book itself, consequently nearly every copy I've encountered has edge wear to the dustjacket to various degrees. This dustjacket has less than the usual wear.