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| Top of the set |
Published by Avatar Press in January 2004 (ISBN: 1-59291-017-3, 7 x 10.6 inches, 18 x 27 cm, cover price $34.95), and only available through Comic Calvacade web shop, this edition has a limited print run of only 1000 copies (it is not numbered).
Here is Avatar Press description of the set: This special deluxe hard cover set features Alan Moore's Courtyard Collected Edition (original B&W edition) and the Courtyard Companion hard covers with exclusive new full color cover images, along with an art print by Jacen Burrows, all packed in a full color sleeve! For the true Alan Moore fan, this set is something you'll want on your bookshelf. This set is limited to 1000 units.
So here is the content of the set, and there is also a picture for size comparison with The Courtyard original issue #1.
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| both hardcovers and the art print |
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| this art print illustration is used in the main story |
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| right hand side, original issue #1 |
Notice that this story was collected in colored in the Neonomicon hardcover edition described here.
Let's begin with Alan Moore's Courtyard Collected Edition (original B&W edition):
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| the new wraparound cover |
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| ISBN and cover price (56 pages) |
Second and third of cover are plain white, and we have a glued binding here. The story is printed on mat paper, and is introduced by Garth Ennis (one page introduction dated September 2003).
The story opens with the wraparound cover for original issue #1 (sadly not side by side) in B&W form. The same scheme is used to introduce part two. The book ends with the two regular original cover in B&W virgin form.
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| left hand side of issue #1 wraparound cover |
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| to the right, left hand side of issue #2 wraparound cover |
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| this part of the story is printed in pure B&W |
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| original cover for issue #1 |
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| original cover for issue #2 |
Let's continue with The Courtyard Companion:
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| the new wraparound cover |
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| ISBN and cover price (70 pages) |
This another B&W edition was also first published in TPB form in December 2003 with the cover shown below (I don't own this book):
Second and third of cover are plain white, and we have a glued binding. The story is printed on mat paper, and is introduced by Antony Johnston (two pages introduction dated October 2003).
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| we see some glue spills |
The first section of this companion book (6 pages including a one page illustration) is dedicated to Antony Johnston essay, The Comic of Cthulhu: Being a Letter of Reminiscence and Recollection Concerning The Courtyard, where he discusses the problems he faced when retelling Alan Moore’s original prose story in comic-book form (part of this essay can be read here).
Next we found the annotated Courtyard script (34 pages, with some small illustrations by Jacen Burrows).
15 pages of annotations by NG Christakos come after the annotated script. These annotations ends with the one page alternate ending, followed by another full page illustration.
The Courtyard Companion finishes with Alan Moore's original story (eight pages) and a double page spread illustration from Jacen Burrows.
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ReplyDeleteUn fort belle éditon (je suis en train de lire le second tome de Providence - en V.F - et je m'aperçois que même après des années de scénarios, ponctuées de pièces d'anthologies, voire de chefs d’œuvres [dans le sens artisanal du terme si je puis dire], Moore est encore magistral et propose encore de l'inédit dans le storytelling.
ReplyDeleteMerci Artemus. Et je ne sais pas si tu es aller sur le lien donner dans l'article sur l'essai de Johnston, il y répond en personne dans les commentaires en donnant des infos supplémentaires sur comment il a du travailler.
DeleteMany thanks for offering a closer look at another rare edition of Alan Moore's works.
ReplyDeleteThe Deluxe Hardcover Set was also available via Diamond's Previews catalog, October 2003, page 238.
That's how I got my copy (still have the old catalogue lying around here...).
Sorry for being a stickler again!
(I'm the same dude who made the comment about the Cinema Purgatorio hardcover print run.)
Many Thanks again &
All the Best!
Please, do be a stickler, I am always after these king of remarks to be as accurate as possible! Here I have used Comic Calvacade info on their webstore, but it is clearly a decade wrong (so probably just a typo), and in fact in the credit page it is written January 2004.
DeleteThanks for that and don't hesitate to correct any other wrong info you'd find in any of my articles.
All the best!
How is the binding? I've read a lot of bad things about the build quality.
ReplyDeleteHi John. A picture above shows the binding. It is a very tight glued binding (the opened books do not stay flat on a table). Thing is Avatar do not aim the deluxe/oversize/absolute edition sector. They are doing small regular simple hardovers.
Delete