5. Planetary by Warren Ellis & John Cassaday
The most recent entry in our Top 5 today, but also one of the best series produced in modern history. It mixes Ellis’ bent take on superheroics and the genre with Cassaday’s stoic majesty and near-dimensional jumping storytelling.
4. Love & Rockets: The Death of Speedy by Jaime Hernandez
It’s tough to pinpoint the highest mountain in a range of titans, but if I had to choose one book from the Hernandez Bros.’ oeuvre it would be the seminal “Death of Speedy” arc from Love & Rockets.This book about Maggie and Hopey and how the death of their friend Speedy brings down the Hoppers neighborhood and changes their lives. I haven’t seen a page of original art by Jaime from this era, but I’d pay cover price alone just to see those first few panels after Speedy dies.
3. Uncanny X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga by Chris Claremont & John Byrne
Arguably one of the most pivotal superhero comics of all time and the crucible which cast the format of what the X-Men were to be for decades to come. It showcased the final turn of Jean Grey from comics’ next-door sweetheart into one of the darkest villains in comics before or since, and seeing this at full size with Byrne’s art (and Terry Austin’s inks!) would be a great comic to study and enjoy.
2. Fantastic Four by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
It’s a no brainer. IDW’s done partnerships with Marvel before on Artist’s Edition, and this one seems like the holy grail. I can only imagine that the scarcity of the original art, or even quality negatives of the inks, make this a book we’ll never see. But I can still hope.
1. DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke
I don’t think I’m the only iFanboyer who has this six issue series in multiple formats, but count me amongst the people who would buy it again should it ever come out in an IDW Artist’s Edition. I’ve seen Darwyn Cooke’s original pages up close and personal, the idea of what awaits in a full-size reproduction of this series’ pages gets my mouth watering and my wallet opening on its own volition.
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A MILLION TIMES YES FOR NEW FRONTIER
Agreed. This needs to happen!
Nice picks. I’d much rather see a New Gods one for Kirby, though. And I always preferred Paul Smith’s X-Men to Byrne’s.
Paul Smith’s would certainly fit in an Artist Edition. He only did about 9 issues.
I’d love to see the Byrne Wolverine Hellfire Club issues.
Kirby all day everyday. I would kill for a FF, Thor, or SilverAge CAPT by Kirby.
Fantastic Four issues 44-52 is quite possibly one of the greatest stretches in Silver Age comics: the creation of the Inhumans, Silver Surfer, Galactus and Black Panther…what a run!
Really, anything Kirby would be great. My pick for an Artist Edition tha would never, ever happen would be the original Moon Knight stories pencilled by Bill Sienkiewicz, or an even LONGER long shot, the adaptation of Wagner’s Ring Cycle by P. Craig Russell.
Kirby New Gods would be great. He was totally unchained on that first issue.
My eyes got as big as dinner plates when I saw Planetary. Man, did I ever love Planetary.
Agreed. I would buy this in a heartbeat. Planetary is one of my all-time favorite comics.
I might sell my soul for that…
Not sure Cassaday’s clean line would benefit from the treatment (especially without Laura Martin’s amazing colors) but rest assured I’d buy a copy, especially if it had a cover gallery!
I’d go back to the well of Mazz for Batman Year One in this format. I would also splurge for a remarked edition of New Frontier. Also, I think the first Galactus issues of FF would be a must have.
I think Scott has the most awesome job putting these together at idw.
Any of these would be awesome. Add me to the list of folks who want to see Kirby’s New Gods (or really any of his Fourth World stuff) get this treatment. I’d also love to see a Ditko Artist Edition of the Action Heroes line at Charleton and a Gene Colan Tomb of Dracula edition.
Nice list, Chris!
My top 5…
– Jack Kirby (anything!!!)
– Carl Barks (Uncle Scrooge stuff)
– Alex Toth (particularly his ‘Hot Wheels’, but I can’t imagine IDW getting the rights to use the Hot Wheels brand $$$)
– Bernard Krigstein (“Master Race”)
– Gene Colon (Tomb of Dracula)
Some of these will be covered in the Best of EC: Artist’s Edition, but it would be nice to have the individual artists!
I would love to see ANYTHING Kirby by IDW and I’m surprised that wasn’t their first option for this series. New Gods would look fantastic in this format.
It’s because Marvel stole all his original art or gave it away as promotional materials.
These are awesome suggestions, particularly Darwyn Cooke. I would love to see them reprint the Walt Simonson one as I missed the first round that book was out, and I have a huge love of his Thor work.
I would love something by Geoff Darrow, especially if it collected many of the miscellaneous pinups and covers he’s done over the years. Kirby is another good one, and I’d love to see IDW get those collage pages of his in any edition they put out.
They did a Geof Darrow artists edition of Hard Boiled that was just his raw art without colors or word balloons.
http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/1569713235
F@#k yeah!!! Great pics, I love New Frontier and would love to see deeper into it,,,,,still wish in the animated film they did more than play out the ban on masks/end of an era with the JSA characters than through the credits as a montage. Dr Fate, The Spectre…Hourmans part was key and carries weight.
How much do these artist editions actually cost?
Anywhere from $100-$300
http://shop.idwpublishing.com/art/artisteditions.html
Thanks for the link. That’s actually a pretty fair price for what you get.
Wow. I really need that John Byrne FF one! You just cost me $100!
Not to be the pourer of cold water, but:
1. I believe computer-lettered books aren’t considered for this treatment. That kills Planetary. (The computer-generated art in the book doesn’t help, either.)
2. Terry Austin is not letting his X-Men pages go for anything, including scanning for an Artist’s Edition. Nobody is saying exactly why, but that kills any Byrne-era X-Men projects. Here’s the quote from John Byrne: “One of these is unlikely, for my work, since the pages are long since scattered to the four corners of the Earth, and Terry Austin, who holds the largest single collection of such (from X-MEN) has no interest in releasing them for use by IDW.” http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=41137
The rest is up to who has the original art, and how hard it would be to track it down. Collectors who have purchased and held onto entire issues and artists who never sold their work are the best friends of Artist’s Editions. It’s why I still hold out hope for a “Savage Dragon” Artist’s Edition. 😉
Being a fan of comic strips as well, I’d like to see a Complete Sundays Artist’s Edition for both Calvin and Hobbes and Pogo.
Could be a couple of giant books, like those atlases at the library that have a special, angled table to hold them.