Bodyworld

Late last year I jumped on the Dash Shaw bandwagon, posting about his marvellous graphic novel Bottomless Belly Button. Now Pantheon has released a paper edition of another novel by Shaw, originally published online: Bodyworld (or Body World, depending on which bit of the book you look at). Designed by Shaw, it's a beautifully put together book, with a number of odd features. CLick the images below for bigger versions.

The cover is printed on metallic foil...

..while the 'spine' as actually at the head of the book, as it opens like a laptop to create an unusually tall double page (hence the book title printed in fluorescent orange ink in the left-hand page edges).

The endpapers have character guides...

..which fold out to reveal maps of the story's setting.

As for the book itself, I really enjoyed it. The fact that it's something of a science-fiction satire means it will probably have less of a broad appeal than Bottomless Belly Button, but it does demonstrate Shaw's intriguing range and visual design sense.