Press Release
IDW Publishing dropped a bombshell today, announcing two blockbuster Artist’s Editions produced under license from DC Entertainment. And these offerings are truly blockbusters—Jack Kirby’s New Gods Artist’s Edition and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen Artifact Edition. For the first time ever, readers will be able to see up close Kirby’s energy and dynamic storytelling, and Gibbons’ intricately designed and beautifully realized pages, as they never have before—as close as possible to how they looked on the artist’s drawing boards!
Jack Kirby’s New Gods Artist’s Edition will be released in March and feature five complete issues of Kirby’s inaugural Fourth World book. Kirby, often called the King of Comics, is arguably the most important and influential comics creator of all time. His work on New Gods, which he wrote as well as drew, clearly reinforces that notion. Filled with amazing imagery and giant concepts, this book will measure 12 x 17 inches.
Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen will debut later in the year. Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, is the story most often cited as the greatest graphic novel ever published. This Artist’s Edition will be atypical in that the stories will not be complete, and will be an Artifact Edition, the first released by IDW. It will be produced to the same exacting standards as an Artist’s Edition, and will feature a cornucopia of individual pages and covers from Watchmen, each image a testament to Gibbons’ elegant and nuanced style. This book will also measure 12 x 17 inches.
“IDW’s Artist’s Editions are among my very favorite comic art books of all time, so I’m thrilled that they’re publishing a Watchmen collection,” said series artist Dave Gibbons.
“We’re equally thrilled,” said IDW President Greg Goldstein. “Watchmen is obviously one of the most acclaimed and influential series of all time, and New Gods is arguably the greatest of Kirby’s works during his tenure at DC. It’s a true privilege to publish these books.”
“Wow,” added editor Scott Dunbier, “there’s not really a lot more to say, is there?”
WHAT IS AN ARTIST’S EDITION? AN ARTIST’S EDITION PRESENTS COMPLETE STORIES WITH EACH PAGE SCANNED FROM THE ACTUAL ORIGINAL ART.
While appearing to be in black and white, each page was scanned in color to mimic as closely as possible the experience of viewing the actual original art—for instance, corrections and blue pencils. Each page is printed the same size as drawn, and the paper selected is as close as possible to the original art board.
About IDW
IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. Renowned for its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including: Hasbro’s The TRANSFORMERS, G.I. JOE and MY LITTLE PONY; Paramount’s Star Trek; Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; 2000AD’s Judge Dredd; The Rocketeer; Toho’s Godzilla; Wizards of the Coast’s Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons; and the Eisner-Award winning Locke & Key series, created by best-selling author Joe Hill and artist Gabriel Rodriguez. IDW is also home to the Library of American Comics imprint, which publishes classic comic reprints, Yoe! Books, a partnership with Yoe! Studio, and the multiple award-winning Artist’s Edition imprint.
IDW’s critically- and fan-acclaimed series are continually moving into new mediums. Currently, Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Disney are creating a feature film based on World War Robot; Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Warner Brothers are producing a film based on Ashley Wood’s Lore; and Michael Bay‘s Platinum Dunes and Sony are bringing Zombies vs. Robots to film.
4 Comments
Why is DC outsourcing this material?
I don’t think they are. IDW did previous volumes of this series featuring Walt Simonson’s Thor and others. It’d be interesting to find out if, since they’re presenting the original art (which is owned by the artist and/or their estate) what kind of approval they need to get from the copyright holders…
Kirby dots, lantern jaws and square fingers galore! Oh, the humanity!!! I keep wondering why everybody thinks Kirby was ALL THAT with a side of bacon when there are dozens if not hundreds of better comic book artists working today. Back in the day, Kirby art was enough to kill a series for me unless the writing was very, very good. Each to his own, I guess, but this is one series I will be giving a pass. Now, if they ever decided to do a Michael Kaluta series, I’d be on board for that…
As for the Gibbons series, I read plenty of his stories back in the day but something about Gibbon’s art has always bothered me, and I’ve had a hard time putting my finger on exactly what it was. The art is always intricately rendered, the background painstakingly detailed, and they are almost too perfect. Gibbons obviously drew the things with T-squares and triangles and protractors. He was an excellent draftsman. And that, I think, is what bothered me. But the odd thing is Mobius and Herge also drew the backgrounds of their comics with draftsman precision but their art never bothered me, in fact, I quite liked it. I don’t know why it didn’t work for me where Gibbons was concerned.