RETRO STUD: MUSCLE MOVIE POSTERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

If you think the proposed Batman vs. Superman represented a new nadir for our Cinema of Excess, thumb through Chapman’s illustrated history of sword-and-sandal one-sheets until you come to Hercules Against the Moon Men and utter a relieved and or disgusted sigh of ”’twas always thus.” As a coffee-table book, Retro is adequate, particularly if said coffee table is located on Fire Island. Appreciation will vary with the reader’s tolerance for majestically sucked-in guts, the lurid section of the Sherwin-Williams color wheel, and cartoon damsels who seem to be constantly contemplating fellatio. Too bad Chapman’s repetitive, grammatically challenged prose — despite a few good historical asides — is about as nimble as Victor Mature.