Expedition: Being an Account in Words and Artwork of the 2358 A.D. Voyage to Darwin IV

by Wayne Douglas Barlowe

Overview

The Most Important Travel Book in the 24th Century

From the Initial Creature Concept artist of AVATAR The book that Discovery Channel's ALIEN PLANET was based upon

New York, March 24, 2366-Five years to the day after returning to Earth, Wayne Douglas Barlowe had published his collection of paintings, drawings, and sketches made during the first manned expedition to the planet Darwin IV. Now back in print after years secluded in the collections of ardent followers, the public can once again stroll through the exotic images of life on that distant planet. Barlowe's exquisite renderings and detailed notes from the far reaches of time will transport you light years into the future.

This book is also available from Echo Point Books in hardcover, ISBN 1635619513.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781635619522
Publisher:	Echo Point Books & Media
Publication date:	10/09/2020
Edition description:	Reprint ed.
Pages:	196
Sales rank:	367,144
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.51(d)

About the Author

Wayne Barlowe is a science fiction and fantasy author and artist who has created images for books, film, video games, and galleries, and written and illustrated a number of art books, including Expedition, Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials, Barlowe's Guide to Fantasy, Barlowe's Inferno, Brushfire, The Alien Life of Wayne Barlowe, and An Alphabet of Dinosaurs. Expedition aired as the Discovery Channel's special "Alien Planet." His game concept work includes "Dante's Inferno" and "Shadow of Mordor." His film designs can be seen in Blade2, Galaxy Quest, Hellboy 1 and 2, Harry Potter 3 and 4, Avatar, Pacific Rim, and Aquaman, and his TV work includes Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and Amazon Prime's LOTRs show. He has written two novels: God's Demon and its sequel, The Heart of Hell.

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Grasslands and Plains

Rayback and Gyrosprinter

Prarie-Ram

Arrowtongue and Thornback

Butchertree and Prismalope

The Forest and Periphery

Grove-back

Flipstick

Forest Slider and Gulper

Daggerwrist

Finned Snapper

The Amoebic Sea and Littoral Zone

Sac-back

Emperor Sea Strider

Sea Strider Skull and Littoralope

Stripewing

The Mountains

Keeled Slider

Springwing

Bladderhorn

The Tundra

Arctic Sedge=-slider and Tundra-plow

Unth and Mummy-nest Flyer

Icecrawler and Rimerunner

The Air

Skewer and Symet

Rugose Floater

Eosapien

Departure

Editorial Reviews

An abundance of lavish full-color illustrations and detailed black-and-white sketches dominate Barlowe's fictional account of a 21st-century exploratory space flight to the imaginary planet Darwin IV. Sent along as the mission's artist, Barlowe ( Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials ) describes his ``excursions'' to survey Darwin IV and the unusual animals he encountered: creatures like the monopodalians, who pogo-stick across a barren, icy landscape, or the winged but flightless Stripewings that are in ``evolutionary flux.'' Numerous ``observed'' details, such as the length of a Darwinian day (26.7 hours) and the feeding, hunting and mating behaviors of various creatures, help maintain the illusion of realism and immediacy such a first-person narrative demands. SF fans who relish the bizarre for its own sake may enjoy this volume. But while superbly executed, Barlowe's visualization of an alien world falls short imaginatively and is naturalistically unconvincing. Many animals look like dinosaurs designed by a committee and discerning readers will suspect that Darwin IV wouldn't work as an ecological system, no matter how alien. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly