What do you think?
Rate this book
Best of EC - Artist's Edition: Volume 1
EC Comics is arguably the finest line of comics ever produced. Whether it was science fiction or war, crime or horror, their entire line stood head and shoulders above the rest of the comics on the newsstands. Now IDW Publishing is pleased to present an Artist's Edition unlike any other, featuring the best stories by the brightest stars of EC Comics. Remember these classics? 50 Girls 50 by Al Williamson and Frank Frazetta, The Corpse on the Imjin by Harvey Kurtzman, The
Flying Machine by Bernie Krigstein, Touch and Go by Johnny Craig, Judgment Day by Joe Orlando. All these plus more! And a stunning cover gallery crammed with glorious EC goodness!
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, blue pencils, paste-overs, all the little nuances that make original art unique. Each page is printed the same size as drawn, and the paper selected is as close as possible to the original art board.
Flying Machine by Bernie Krigstein, Touch and Go by Johnny Craig, Judgment Day by Joe Orlando. All these plus more! And a stunning cover gallery crammed with glorious EC goodness!
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, blue pencils, paste-overs, all the little nuances that make original art unique. Each page is printed the same size as drawn, and the paper selected is as close as possible to the original art board.
- GenresComics
168 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
39 people want to read
About the author
Al Feldstein
368 books47 followersAlbert Bernard Feldstein was an American writer, editor, and artist, best known for his work at EC Comics and, from 1956 to 1985, as the editor of the satirical magazine Mad. After retiring from Mad, Feldstein concentrated on American paintings of Western wildlife.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 29, 2017
Of Artists, Studios, Galleries, Curators, and O.A.F.'s...
I've been semi-obsessed with IDW's Artist's Editions over the last several months, and adding these gigantic motherfuckers to the same structurally reinforced shelves that hold the Sunday Press 'Little Nemo in Slumberland' books, the Taschen edition of 'The Complete Little Nemo', the 'Tarzan' by Hal Foster reprints from Dark Horse, and 'Kramer's Ergot 7'; all of which are stunning and awkward-to-the-point-of-dangerous when it comes to casual reading.
So here's a quick look at 10 (...or 11, since I bunched volumes 1 & 2 of 'The Spirit' together) of the 'Original Art Facsimile'* volumes from the 16 I've picked up so far. IDW are still the gold-standard, but the newer brands from Graphitti Design, Dark Horse, Kitchen Sink and Fantagraphics are close behind; the quality-level is near-identical, but they lack the same rich back-catalogue that IDW have been building for 7 years. I love the classics that IDW have focused on, but the first two Fantagraphics Studio Editions -- the Prince Valiant by Hal Foster book, long overdue, and the Love & Rockets stories of Jaime Hernandez -- along with their history as the one of the best publishers in comics, indicates that every Studio Edition is going to be exciting as fuck... an anticipation I share for the Kitchen Sink Curator's Collection books, because their first release, the 'Sin City' OAF, was perfectly executed.
* (O.A.F.: an appropriate acronym for these massive, awkward, volumes that always threaten to topple over or destroy your bookcase, even though they're the noblest and gentlest of tomes, with absolutely no ill will toward their bibliophile owners)
10 Great OAFs:
001.
Best of EC - Artist's Edition: Volume 1
The E.C. books on their own are a perfect justification for this format; these are some of the most frequently reprinted stories in comics, but they've never looked better than this. At full size, even the most cramped Feldstein layout is given room to breathe, and all the fine lines that were lost to the smaller page and shitty coloring now make the art seem full and finished, whiteout, blueline, coffee-stains and all. Definitely a must-buy for E.C. fans... and the quality of the reproduction, combined with the impeccable curatorial decisions, make this a great place to start for anyone interested in 'Artist Editions'.
002.
Best of EC - Artist's Edition: Volume 2
It's been said before, but the second volume is even better than the first... though it's a close call. Like Volume 1, it's loaded up on Kurtzman and Krigstein, something no E.C. fan is going to bitch about. This time there's more Wally Wood material, and Al Williamson is once again given quite a few pages. My one complaint: there's just one story by John Severin & Will Elder, 'Bomb Run'... and since it's likely my favorite 8-pages from either book, it left me wishing there was more. But that's a minor quibble; it's not just a matter of choosing the best E.C. stories, it's also a matter of tracking down the original art. The fact that every page in both volumes (all 4 of the E.C. editions I own, actually, including the MAD and Jack Davis A.E.'s) is reproduced directly from the original art is another impressive feat.
003.
Mad: Artist's Edition
Along with the 'Best of E.C.' Volumes, this may be the best and richest of the Artist's Editions and OAF's to date. Will Elder, Wally Wood, Jack Davis and Basil Wolverton seem to be locked in a game of creative one-up·man·ship that belies the carefully orchestrated chaos of MAD's original creator, editor, writer and cover artist, Harvey Kurtzman. As much as I love the E.C. books written and edited by Al Feldstein, the Kurtzman titles always look better; Feldstein was overly verbose, and his stubborn insistence on shitty mechanical lettering tended to make his pages look excessively cramped. Kurtzman used traditional comic-book lettering, and knew exactly when to shut the fuck up and let the artist speak...
004.
Frank Miller's Sin City: Hard Goodbye Curator's Collection
The nearly flawless original pages of 'Sin City: The Hard Goodbye', with they're impressionistic black gradients that enhance the beauty of Miller's chiaroscuro blend of Will Eisner, Jose Munoz, and a young Argentinian named Eduardo Risso, who influenced Miller's new direction as much as Miller's 'B:TDK' and 'Ronin' had influenced Risso himself several years previous, provide a very stark contrast with the material collected in Graphitti Design's 'Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Gallery Edition', with its bluelines, editorial notes, gallons of whiteout, and vellum overlay correction panels (beautifully replicated by Graphitti Design).
005.
Batman The Dark Knight Returns Frank Miller Gallery Edition
006.
Will Eisner's The Spirit: Artist's Edition - Volumes 1 & 2
These are fucking essential. Every 'Spirit' collection I'd read before these two books failed miserably to convey the genius of Eisner's prime artistry. No missing pages, beautifully designed... 300 pages of Eisner's best stories.
007.
Mike Mignola's The Amazing Screw-On Head & Other Curious Objects Artist's Edition
The first Mike Mignola Artist's Edition, 'Hellboy in Hell', was fucking spectacular, but some reviewers complained about the lack of story... literally. The balloons and lettering were added digitally, so the original art was ALL art. That was fine with me... I had the trade. But the second A.E., 'Amazing Screw-On Head' is the best of the 12 x 17-inch books, no question. That, however, is entirely related to my admiration for the work of Mignola; while Hellboy in Hell gave us late-period Mignola and a couple very cool bonuses like the early-90's Hellboy classic 'The Corpse', the newer book gives us eclectic and first-rate stories from throughout his career, & a killer cover gallery.
008.
Steranko: Nick Fury - Agent of SHIELD Artist Edition
Jim Steranko, motherfucker. He out-Kirby-ed the king, made that shit look easy, dropped the mic, and bitch-slapped Bob Kane for being an over-rated, pretentious snob. Also: this is one of the most popular artist editions for good reason.
009.
The Best of DC War - Artist’s Edition
010.
Basil Wolverton's Weird Worlds - Artists Edition
If Harvey Kurtzman was the Godfather of underground comics, Basil Wolverton was it's creepy uncle. No one drew like Wolverton, with his 'spaghetti and meatballs' style that blew the minds of Crumb and Wilson and so many others. Even after he became devoutly religious, he still became a mentor and friend of sorts to the artist who published the most transgressive, brutal, sexually violent, and perfectly UN-Christian comics of the time, S. Clay Wilson.
IDW, thanks to series editor Scott Dunbier, have made some very smart choices in artists and subject matter; I'm not interested in a lot of their titles, but there aren't many that I find baffling. Graphitti Designs, on the other hand... dafuq? Amanda Conner is talented, but there's literally hundreds of artists that deserve a book more, in terms of longevity, talent, originality and influence. But Conner is still a legit talent, while publishing Gallery Editions devoted to Michael Turner's 90's hack-work, or the TWO books dedicated to Kelley Jones' cut-rate Bernie Wrightson replication, just seems fucking odd.
I've been semi-obsessed with IDW's Artist's Editions over the last several months, and adding these gigantic motherfuckers to the same structurally reinforced shelves that hold the Sunday Press 'Little Nemo in Slumberland' books, the Taschen edition of 'The Complete Little Nemo', the 'Tarzan' by Hal Foster reprints from Dark Horse, and 'Kramer's Ergot 7'; all of which are stunning and awkward-to-the-point-of-dangerous when it comes to casual reading.
So here's a quick look at 10 (...or 11, since I bunched volumes 1 & 2 of 'The Spirit' together) of the 'Original Art Facsimile'* volumes from the 16 I've picked up so far. IDW are still the gold-standard, but the newer brands from Graphitti Design, Dark Horse, Kitchen Sink and Fantagraphics are close behind; the quality-level is near-identical, but they lack the same rich back-catalogue that IDW have been building for 7 years. I love the classics that IDW have focused on, but the first two Fantagraphics Studio Editions -- the Prince Valiant by Hal Foster book, long overdue, and the Love & Rockets stories of Jaime Hernandez -- along with their history as the one of the best publishers in comics, indicates that every Studio Edition is going to be exciting as fuck... an anticipation I share for the Kitchen Sink Curator's Collection books, because their first release, the 'Sin City' OAF, was perfectly executed.
* (O.A.F.: an appropriate acronym for these massive, awkward, volumes that always threaten to topple over or destroy your bookcase, even though they're the noblest and gentlest of tomes, with absolutely no ill will toward their bibliophile owners)
10 Great OAFs:
001.
Best of EC - Artist's Edition: Volume 1The E.C. books on their own are a perfect justification for this format; these are some of the most frequently reprinted stories in comics, but they've never looked better than this. At full size, even the most cramped Feldstein layout is given room to breathe, and all the fine lines that were lost to the smaller page and shitty coloring now make the art seem full and finished, whiteout, blueline, coffee-stains and all. Definitely a must-buy for E.C. fans... and the quality of the reproduction, combined with the impeccable curatorial decisions, make this a great place to start for anyone interested in 'Artist Editions'.
002.
Best of EC - Artist's Edition: Volume 2It's been said before, but the second volume is even better than the first... though it's a close call. Like Volume 1, it's loaded up on Kurtzman and Krigstein, something no E.C. fan is going to bitch about. This time there's more Wally Wood material, and Al Williamson is once again given quite a few pages. My one complaint: there's just one story by John Severin & Will Elder, 'Bomb Run'... and since it's likely my favorite 8-pages from either book, it left me wishing there was more. But that's a minor quibble; it's not just a matter of choosing the best E.C. stories, it's also a matter of tracking down the original art. The fact that every page in both volumes (all 4 of the E.C. editions I own, actually, including the MAD and Jack Davis A.E.'s) is reproduced directly from the original art is another impressive feat.
003.
Mad: Artist's EditionAlong with the 'Best of E.C.' Volumes, this may be the best and richest of the Artist's Editions and OAF's to date. Will Elder, Wally Wood, Jack Davis and Basil Wolverton seem to be locked in a game of creative one-up·man·ship that belies the carefully orchestrated chaos of MAD's original creator, editor, writer and cover artist, Harvey Kurtzman. As much as I love the E.C. books written and edited by Al Feldstein, the Kurtzman titles always look better; Feldstein was overly verbose, and his stubborn insistence on shitty mechanical lettering tended to make his pages look excessively cramped. Kurtzman used traditional comic-book lettering, and knew exactly when to shut the fuck up and let the artist speak...
004.
Frank Miller's Sin City: Hard Goodbye Curator's CollectionThe nearly flawless original pages of 'Sin City: The Hard Goodbye', with they're impressionistic black gradients that enhance the beauty of Miller's chiaroscuro blend of Will Eisner, Jose Munoz, and a young Argentinian named Eduardo Risso, who influenced Miller's new direction as much as Miller's 'B:TDK' and 'Ronin' had influenced Risso himself several years previous, provide a very stark contrast with the material collected in Graphitti Design's 'Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Gallery Edition', with its bluelines, editorial notes, gallons of whiteout, and vellum overlay correction panels (beautifully replicated by Graphitti Design).
005.
Batman The Dark Knight Returns Frank Miller Gallery Edition006.
Will Eisner's The Spirit: Artist's Edition - Volumes 1 & 2These are fucking essential. Every 'Spirit' collection I'd read before these two books failed miserably to convey the genius of Eisner's prime artistry. No missing pages, beautifully designed... 300 pages of Eisner's best stories.
007.
Mike Mignola's The Amazing Screw-On Head & Other Curious Objects Artist's EditionThe first Mike Mignola Artist's Edition, 'Hellboy in Hell', was fucking spectacular, but some reviewers complained about the lack of story... literally. The balloons and lettering were added digitally, so the original art was ALL art. That was fine with me... I had the trade. But the second A.E., 'Amazing Screw-On Head' is the best of the 12 x 17-inch books, no question. That, however, is entirely related to my admiration for the work of Mignola; while Hellboy in Hell gave us late-period Mignola and a couple very cool bonuses like the early-90's Hellboy classic 'The Corpse', the newer book gives us eclectic and first-rate stories from throughout his career, & a killer cover gallery.
008.
Steranko: Nick Fury - Agent of SHIELD Artist EditionJim Steranko, motherfucker. He out-Kirby-ed the king, made that shit look easy, dropped the mic, and bitch-slapped Bob Kane for being an over-rated, pretentious snob. Also: this is one of the most popular artist editions for good reason.
009.
The Best of DC War - Artist’s Edition010.
Basil Wolverton's Weird Worlds - Artists EditionIf Harvey Kurtzman was the Godfather of underground comics, Basil Wolverton was it's creepy uncle. No one drew like Wolverton, with his 'spaghetti and meatballs' style that blew the minds of Crumb and Wilson and so many others. Even after he became devoutly religious, he still became a mentor and friend of sorts to the artist who published the most transgressive, brutal, sexually violent, and perfectly UN-Christian comics of the time, S. Clay Wilson.
IDW, thanks to series editor Scott Dunbier, have made some very smart choices in artists and subject matter; I'm not interested in a lot of their titles, but there aren't many that I find baffling. Graphitti Designs, on the other hand... dafuq? Amanda Conner is talented, but there's literally hundreds of artists that deserve a book more, in terms of longevity, talent, originality and influence. But Conner is still a legit talent, while publishing Gallery Editions devoted to Michael Turner's 90's hack-work, or the TWO books dedicated to Kelley Jones' cut-rate Bernie Wrightson replication, just seems fucking odd.
Displaying 1 of 1 review