Catching up with Derek Riggs, Iron Maiden's cover artist

Growing up as a heavy metal goon, I spent entirely too much time staring at the art of Derek Riggs, Iron Maiden's album cover artist from the late 70s to the early 90s. Riggs' work crackled with nasty, lurid energy and was filled with endless, fiddly little details for angry loner teens to get lost in. It's all pretty embarrassing now... but I have to admit that some of this stuff is still kind of awesome.

I stopped following the band about five minutes after I graduated from high school, but recently I got curious about what Riggs had been up to and a quick Googling led me to his website. He offers up lots and lots of his artwork, along with his cranky, poorly-spelled commentary. (Apparently he had a bad falling-out with the Maiden guys some years back, a development that makes me sad. Pouring over Riggs' art was at least half the fun of being an Iron Maiden fan!)

There are some fascinating oddities on the site, such as this Christmas card featuring Maiden's zombie mascot, Eddie, giving directions to the Three Wise Men. If you're an old Maiden fan, seeing the massive temple from the cover of Powerslave in ruins is kind of heartbreaking. But fear not! Eddie never stays dead for long.

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