IDW Artifact Editions

 One of the best ideas, in the world of publishing, has been IDW's Artist Editions and their companion, Artifact Editions.

I have quite a number of them and I began with The Rocketeer by Dave Stevens.  At first, every new book was so amazing, that I bought them as they were published but as the price rose (as a Canadian, I pay more because of the strength of the American Dollar) with almost every new book, I became more selective.

Recently, with my pocket money piling up, because of the restrictions that the present Covid-19 situation has forced upon us, I decided to splurge and so, I bought the second printing of the Bernie Wrightson, Artifact Edition.

Like a fool, I passed on this, absolutely beautiful, collection of Wrightson artwork, when it was first published but that's okay because I was lucky enough to find a copy, of the 2nd printing, in a local store.

Dobi, the owner/operator of Toronto's own Thunderstruck Books, still had one and was happy to sell it to me.  I think I made her day a little bit brighter, in this Covid depressed economy, because I also bought this Artifact Edition:

Dave Cockrum and Chris Claremont's rebooting of Marvel Comics, The X-Men, was a major event and I well remember the excitement, of buying those issues as they appeared.  I missed out on a copy of the Giant Sized X-Men #1 (which I finally bought as a reprint, in the early Eighties) but starting with issue #94, I was a huge fan.

This Artifact Edition, is like time travelling and it is a total pleasure, to go back to being 18 years old, even if only in my mind!  Thank you, IDW for being the publisher, of some of the most amazing comic artwork books, that the world has ever seen.

I highly recommend both of these volumes, to any student of comic book art, like me, or to anyone, who was a comic book collector in the Seventies because they are well worth owning.