Steve McQueen: Full-Throttle Cool, is the second effort from the team of Dwight Jon Zimmerman and Greg Scott, who produced Area 51 for Quarto imprint Zenith Press last year.

Here they profile American icon Steve McQueen, whose life off the big screen arguably lends itself to a graphic novel treatment as well as his movies do. As the book’s title suggests, it revolves around the common theme of McQueen’s fascination with fast cars and motorcycles, and the racing of both as a lifelong avocation. As well as detailing his movie career, the book also delves into the personal life behind the legend of the screen icon. Along with covering his movie career, the book describes McQueen’s difficult early life and struggles with authority, struggles eventually (and mostly) settled for the better through, among other things, a stint in the U.S. Marine Corps.

McQueen will be familiar to DMN readers through his starring roles in several classic war movies, including The War Lover, The Great Escape, The Sand Pebbles, Never So Few, and what might be thought of as a classic “mercenary” movie, The Magnificent Seven.

Along with the racing, the movies, and the women, the concise and engaging text reveals some of the lesser-known aspects of McQueen’s character, and in concert with the vivid and compelling illustrations, provides a great introduction to the life of a complex and driven individual, including the many kind and generous deeds he performed for various people and organizations. Aside from his iconic status as the embodiment of “cool” Steve McQueen: Full-Throttle Cool shows the man behind the image.