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For Control Panel Saturday: Derek Riggs' 1986 art for Iron Maiden's Wasted Years

#Control Panel Saturday #Derek Riggs #iron maiden #80s

Run for Cover (2006) is a retrospective of Derek Riggs’ art career which, for the most part, means it is a retrospective of all the Iron Maiden art of note. He got his start with some Heavy Metal covers and basically fell right into being Maiden’s go-to art guy. Eddie, their mascot, is really Riggs’ creation — the zombie on the band’s first release was originally called Electric Matthew and was a personal work.

Riggs’ work for Maiden is one of the richest in metal, producing a body of over-the-top, horror-tinged art work that really has no rival in the scene. It’s a real joy to see all of the covers, to the albums and singles, collected in one place, along with the merch designs and sketches and alternate painting and what not. Riggs’ packed so much detail into his works that there are still surprises to be found in nearly every one.

Less delightful is the lengthy interview with Riggs that runs the course of the book. He’s a lot to take in, a little bit of a bullshitter, a lot of a grump. His relationship with the band can be best described as “contentious” and when the relationship fell apart for Fear of the Dark, Riggs makes it clear that he was sick of the band. It also sounds like maybe the band was sick of Riggs, too. The partnership didn’t break up for long, Riggs was back for A Real Live One because he needed the money, and has continued to work with them periodically since.

It’s…weird. I can’t imagine having that sort of career, bound almost entirely to one band, with little ownership of all that work. Riggs, for all his grumbles, doesn’t seem to have any regrets, though. More power to him. And I will say: my enthusiasm for much of the band’s catalog has cooled over the years, but I’ll never get tired of Riggs’ paintings.

If you want a copy, Riggs has them for sale on his site.