Bill Sienkiewicz's New Mutants Marvel Artist Select

Script by Chris Claremont, art by Bill Sienkiewicz. All material is ©Marvel Comics. For a complete list of all books reviewed in this blog, please visit the index page.

This wonderful book was published in July 2016 by IDW (ISBN 827-7-1401-144-9, 13.5 x 9.5 inches or 35 x 24 cm, $100) through its IDW Limited brand, and under license from Marvel Comics. In fact, some copies were available at the San Diego Comic Con, but preorders were delivered to buyers in September 2016.

This edition comes with a canvas hardcover slipcase and a fully illustrated glossy dustjacket. And this is the "regular" edition that is limited to 999 hand-numbered and signed copies. Indeed, three more versions were proposed through the IDW Limited site in September and October 2016 (and all gone in a few hours):

• $250 Pencil Sketch Edition, limited to 8 copies , each with a different B&W pencil sketch by Bill Sienkiewicz
• $500 Complete Original Art Edition, limited to 35 copies, each with a different piece of original art by Bill Sienkiewicz
• $1750 Full Color Artwork, limited to 12, each with a different original coloured artwork art by Bill Sienkiewicz

To the extent of my knowledge, and what I have gathered on the web, the three alternative editions comes with an exclusive hardbound tray case instead of the slipcase (same tray case for all). The tray case contains the main book identical to the regular version (only the signature page has a different numbering), and of course an original piece of art in a separate case. All these editions were edited by Chris Ryall (with assistance by Justin Eisinger, Jerry Bennington and Nate Murray), and designed by Robbie Robbins and Shawn Lee.

But let's get back to the "regular" edition, and the main book (more about these alternative versions at the end of this article).

The dust jacket uses the illustration drawn for the cover of X-Men Unmimited #3 (2005). Below there is a picture for size comparison with an Elektra Assassin floppy comics, and another with the Frank Miller Daredevil Marvel Omnibus Companion (also with interior pages size comparison). IDW has used a sewn binding. Second and third of cover are plain red, and a sleeve containing the four-page color key is glued to the third of cover.

the sleeve where the four-page color key are inserted

New Mutants IDW Artists Select vs. Daredevil Marvel Omnibus Companion interior pages size

notice the red ribbon bookmark

Underneath the dustjacket, the book itself (13 x 9 inches or 33 x 23 cm, 360 pages) has a white canvas hardcover with a red cloth-bound spine.

The book opens with the signature hand-numbered plate. My copy is #883. Then after the opening and credit pages (including a table of content), we have a one page introduction written by Chris Claremont, followed by a 8 pages interview of Bill Sienkiewicz by Chris Ryall, dated April 2016.

some copies have randomly additional doodles

Now to the main part of the book, that is the reprint of The New Mutants #18-31 (1984-1985), The New Mutants Annual #1, and X-Men Unlimited #43 (2003). All related comic covers are included. The chapter breaks are excerpts from the comics. And the art never cease to amazed me...

a significant change of colouring for that 2003 issue of X-Men Unlimited

At the end of the book we find the color key pages. I have used a white background below to have a better view of the superposition effect. First they are displayed one by one from the black page to the yellow one, and then they are superposed together successively.

magenta + green

magenta + yellow + cyan

all together

Now I will end this article by coming back to the more limited editions of this book.

On the automatonera website I have found pictures of the tray case used for all three alternative versions, front and back, as well as the piece of art holder:

Here is another view of the tray case from an ebay listing:

Now let's take a look at the "not full color artwork" editions exclusives:

• $250 Pencil Sketch Edition, limited to 8 copies , each with a different B&W pencil sketch by Bill Sienkiewicz
• $500 Complete Original Art Edition, limited to 35 copies, each with a different piece of original art by Bill Sienkiewicz

On the automatonera website we get to see one of this Complete Original Art Edition that features a modified signature plate (with an additional Doodle!):

Looking at the "43" printing run indicated, one can deduce that the "8" $250 books plus the 35 $500 books were initially from the same printing run.

Here are all the artwork corresponding to these two limited editions that I have gathered since they were first advertised. I have only retrieved so far 37 out of 43 artworks/sketches (click on the picture to get an enhanced view):

#40/43 Will Henderson FB

And here are some views of as received artworks/sketches:

#1/43 (ebay listing)

#8/43 mrspock128

#11/43 Andrew J comicartfan

#12/43 ebay auction

#14/43 automatonera website

#20/43 Roland Lim comicartfan

#29/43 comicsatemybrain

#35/43 Bo Roberts comicartfan

And we finish this article with some insights about the "over the top" limited edition:

• $1750 Full Color Artwork, limited to 12, each with a different original coloured artwork art by Bill Sienkiewicz

This is the 12 stunning full color original artwork proposed through IDW Limited shop:

In fact, at least 20 of these were produced as it can be seen on that image posted by Chris Ryall on Instagram (additional copies were reserved for friends and family, I have pinpointed them on the picture below):

From what IDW Limited had advertised on their FB/Tweeter accounts we also can see these three ones separately (they can be spotted at the bottom in the picture above):

Originally I was aiming for the "full color" original art edition, so I passed on the previous editions (including the "regular" that was already sold out). Sadly the price was announced just a few hours before they were proposed on IDW Limited website, and $1750 was not something I was expecting (indeed the book itself only represent 6% of the total price, but perhaps someday I will have the means to chase one copy of this edition, who knows).

At least one copy of this set has appeared on ebay:

#8/12