This summer marks 30 years since the original Die Hard swung into theaters on July 15th, 1988, and later this year the cult classic will celebrate the occasion with a new Christmas-themed home release.
But if you’d like your holiday stocking to be stuffed with even more memories from Nakatomi Plaza, you’ll want to ask Santa for the new behind-the-scenes tribute to the franchise that crash lands in bookstores this fall, Die Hard: The Ultimate Visual History. And we have your exclusive first look at it, along with a new comic book based on the adventures of John McClane.
Insight Editions, who last year published the illustrated A Die Hard Christmas, is back with another book on the action film franchise, with the in-depth Die Hard: The Ultimate Visual History, written by James Mottram and David S. Cohen, with a foreword from director John McTiernan. “Through exclusive interviews with the cast and crew of each film,” along with “a wealth of rare and unseen imagery, including set photography and concept art,” it will explore the entire history behind the making of Die Hard and its sequels, including how its legacy has grown over three decades thanks to video games, comics, and merchandise.
While you can pre-order the book at Amazon now ($50), it won’t hit stores until this fall on October 23rd. Fortunately you don’t have to wait like a kid on Christmas Eve to unwrap some of the treasures it has unearthed, because we have your first exclusive glimpse at some of the spreads that you will find in the 240 page tome, which includes plenty of on-set shots of Bruce Willis , and an inside-look at how they shot the iconic Hans Gruber drop.
But that’s not the last of the 30th anniversary celebrations for the franchise this year, because before Die Hard: The Ultimate Visual History hits stores, Insight Comics will also release a new comic book on October 16th about (the bald-era) John McClane. A Million Ways To Die Hard, written by Frank Tieri with illustrations from Mark Texeira, can also be pre-ordered now on Amazon (Kindle $9.99, hardcover $19.99).
“Thirty years after the release of Die Hard, a retired John McClane is being pulled back into the game by a dangerous foe he never thought he’d face again—a psychotic serial killer with a theatrical taste for casting his victims in reproductions of Hollywood’s greatest and deadliest films! Faced with impossible choices and unimaginable odds, A Million Ways To Die Hard just may be the last case John McClane ever has.”
He might have less hair than he did 30 years ago, but based on these pages from the comic John McClane hasn’t lost any of his personality (or fondness for profanity). Unfortunately for him there’s no rest for a weary-terrorist fighting cop, because he’s going to find himself dealing with a deadly problem at a familiar place, but under very different circumstances.
Oh my god. Nakatomi Plaza! They finally really did it! You maniacs, you blew it up! God damn you! God damn you all to Hell!
Good thing we’ll have the Ultimate Visual History to always remember what it looked like in 1988. Yippee ki-yay!
What part of the making of the Die Hard films are you most interested in learning more about? Don’t just stand there, cowboy, get in the game in our comments section below and share your thoughts with us.