Top 10 Artist’s And Artifact Editions For The Comics Fan In Your LIfe

Celebrating The Legacy Of Comics

Christmas is just over a week away now and we thought we’d choose 10 of IDW’s beautiful Artist’s and Artifact Edition books to suggest as Christmas presents for the comic fan in your life…

John Buscema Silver Surfer Artist’s Edition
Buscema was one of Marvel’s greatest artists and this edition showcases arguably his finest work. You can stare at his fabulously detailed pages for hours as he was an artist who could convey emotion while not stinting on action where it was needed. He was the ultimate Silver Surfer artist. IDW did a magnificent job of reproducing his wonderful art with care and attention…

America’s Best Comics Artist’s Edition
Where else could you find Alan Moore, Chris Sprouse, Kevin Nowlan,  Gene Ha, Rick Veitch, Hilary Barta and Art Adams all in one place? This volume, which reprints pencils from Tom Strong plus stories from Tomorrow Stories, Promethea and pages from across the ABC line, illustrates just how ahead of its time America’s Best Comics was.

Watchmen Artifact Edition
Even more than thirty years after it was first published, it is impossible to argue with the power and impact of Moore and Gibbons’ landmark series. We get to see many of Gibbons’ most iconic pages from this series presented in the beautiful oversized format. Also included in here are a few of colourist John Higgins’ colour guides. A unique celebration of an important comic series.

Daredevil Chris Samnee Artist’s Edition
Samnee is one of the best modern Daredevil artists and his clean lines look amazing in the larger format. As well as seeing his inked art, this volume is unlike the others because we also get a separate book which reproduces writer Mark Waid’s scripts accompanied by Samnee’s thumbnails. It is this sort of attention to detail that makes the Artist’s and Artefact Edition line head and shoulders above other books like this from other publishers.

Hellboy in Hell and Other Stories Artist’s Edition
2019 is the 25th anniversary of Big Red and here we get to see Mignola’s final Hellboy story for the time being in Artist’s Edition glory. His art looks even more magnificent in the oversized format and it is also incredible in black and white (no disrespect to his regular colourist collaborator, the brilliant Dave Stewart). The extra material like the covers are also,lent extra impact at the larger size.

Bill Sienkiewicz Mutants and Moon Knights And Assassins Artefact Edition
Sienkiewicz is one of the most distinctive and recognisable artistic voices in comics of the past thirty years and here we see a selection of his work including pages from the Demon Bear story in New Mutants, his embryonic work on Moon Knight for Marvel and his incredible painted art on Elektra Assassin. Yet again, thanks to some wonderful production work, we are able to enjoy his art here in a way that we could only do otherwise if we owned the pages. A gorgeous celebration of a comics original.

Star Wars Artifact Edition
This artifact edition reprints a selection of Howard Chaykin’s pages from the Marvel Star Wars comic that adapted the first film. We are also treated to Walter Simonson and Michael Golden in the same volume. This book also features a colour pull-out of the poster that Chaykin created which was released at the San Diego Comic-Con back in 1976 to promote the adaptation. We also get a few pages reproduced in colour too. Even though the Chaykin pages are inked by Steve Leialoha, you can still see that it’s his work. This is a great present for the Star Wars comic fan.

Manhunter Artist’s Edition
Manhunter by Archie Goodwin and Walter Simonson and published in 1972-1973 was a comic series that used concepts that were ahead of the loop. It took a slightly hokey Jack Kirby creation and spun a wonderful adventure story which even managed to shoehorn Batman into its pages too. Even though Simonson’s art is a little more unrefined than it became, he was still a consummate storyteller even at this point. This volume also includes the early Simonson Captain Fear and his work on Doctor Fate with Marty Pasko, which are interesting early curios. A memorable representation of a true modern master.

Tarzan Volume One
Joe Kubert was an artistic genius whose career straddled a number of decades. Here he adapts Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan for DC in the early seventies and he really creates a pulp flavour with some exceptional comic art. He was arguably one of the greatest storytellers in comics at his peak and the detail in his lives was unrivalled by any of his contemporaries. His work looks amazing at the larger format and just like Buscema’s Silver Surfer, he made everything look effortless. A wonderful tribute to a comics genius.

Enemy Ace
Finally we have Joe Kubert again, this time teaming up with Bob Kanigher on Enemy Ace. A brilliant first world war story for DC, Kubert brings a kineticism and life to his pages that very few of his contemporaries could manage. Hans von Hammer is a conflicted soul and the team here really bring him to life. Kubert could draw dogfights like nobody else and you can sit for hours studying his illustrations.

IDW 10 Artist’s And Artifact Editions feature www.tripwiremagazine.co.uk

With thanks to Artist’s Edition website for some of the images run here

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