New Art Book Explores Mortal Kombat's Bloody 30-Year Visual History

More than 30 years ago, Mortal Kombat hit arcades, kicking off the hyper-violent franchise that now spans numerous video games, big-budget movies, comic books, and even an animated series. Soon, fans can get an inside look at the franchise’s gore-spattered history thanks to the upcoming art book, Mortal Kombat: Flawless Victory, written by Ian Flynn–the lead writer of IDW Publishing’s Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and Sonic Frontiers. The $50 hardcover book will be released on August 5, 2025, and is available for preorder at Amazon.

$50

According to the book’s Amazon store page, Mortal Kombat: Flawless Victory will feature over 300 pages of concept sketches, renders, and illustrations. The art will be presented alongside exclusive interviews with the development team at NetherRealm Studios, commentary from Flynn, and an in-depth look at fan-favorite characters like Scorpion, Raiden, and Liu Kang.

While August 2025 is a bit of a long wait, the silver lining here is that you won’t be charged until the book ships, and thanks to Amazon’s preorder price guarantee, you’ll get it for the best price.

If you’re a fan of gaming history, you can check out several other books right now covering various consoles and games. Game Boy enthusiasts will want to check out The Game Boy Encyclopedia–a book that explores the hundreds of games released for the handheld–by veteran video game journalist Chris Scullion, who has also authored several other books on the topic,

The Video Game Encyclopedia Series

There are also deep dives into Nintendo written by Florent Gorge, as the long-awaited translations of the third and fourth volumes in The History of Nintendo series are also up for preorder. If you ever wanted to read up on the secret history of the iconic video game company, then books like The History Of the Famicom/NES and The History Of The Game Boy are essential reading. Lastly, you can also check out the superb hardcovers produced by Bitmap Books. These cover a wide range of topics, from box art to horror games, and they’re some of the best coffee table books around if you’re looking for something that’s easy on the eyes.