In the distant past of 2003 I had the opportunity to interview James Victore for Speak Up. That April I asked him when we could expect a book of his work. His reply? Modest:

I need to do more work. I’m too young. Too green. Plus I’d want it to have a larger scope than just “The James Victore Show.” I am onto a new idea. I have been working at this for a few years and I am just starting to get good. The world is opening up for me. I feel like a smoker who has just quit and can finally smell dinner. I am just realizing the full potential of my work and I now want to wield it like a large club with nails in it. I want to personally disprove the inequality between money and creativity that you mention in a previous question. I can’t make a book now, I’m just now doing good work. The rest of the stuff I’ve made was just the beginning. There will be a book. And it will be killer.

At the end of last year, Victore or, Who Died and Made You Boss? was released. And it is fucking killer. (Sorry, James’s work makes me swear).

The book is large and heavy. And black. Really, really, very black. So black that not only does every single page consist of white, knocked-out type off a black background, but so black that the black bleeds off the pages and unto their pages for a glossy effect that contrasts with the fabulous uncoated-ness of the book.

The book presents 48 — yup, not 50 or 75 or 25… 48 — of James’s projects, organized chronologically. Each project comes with anything from a paragraph to a handful of paragraphs in loose, saucy Victore banter and lots and lots of images big and small. If you like James’s work, this book is heaven: Beautifully reproduced images of all his posters, book covers, and myriad projects featuring his trademark sketchy illustrations and lettering. If you hate his work, and I do think there are people out there who do, this book is just a slap in the face. A well deserved one if you ask me.

Who died and made you boss? was designed by Paul Sahre. It’s as if all the times he has used a Humanist Sans Serif have been building up to this point: A magnus opus of Humanist Sans Serif deployment, from 6-point type to 600-point type. Fabulously typeset, the layout and pace of the book is a little like James’s work itself: Kind of annoying to those on the receiving end but addictive and contagious to those watching. While Paul has set all the images in a normal upright manner, aligned with the actual orientation of the book, all the type is set 90 degrees counter clockwise forcing the reader to flip the book between text and images as if they were driving on the worst autobahn ever. Back and forth, tilting and turning. The effect can be tiresome after a while, but the effort is worth it.

In the end, no one died nor made James boss, but this book proves he actually is. The. Boss. Mostly because he got to hand-letter a naked Giselle Bundchen. (Project 47).

Photos by yours truly.

The book’s jacket unfolds into a poster featuring a commissioned illustration of a “traditional ‘power portrait’ of a fictional modern fat-cat power broker type” by Robert Hunt, defaced by James.

Buy on Amazon.