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12/16/2016

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:

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


23 comments:

  1. looks amazing. One question I have though, if compared to a marvel omnibus is the art larger or smaller/same size?

    For some images there looks to be a lot of whitespace so its a bit difficult to tell, but book itself looks much larger.

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    Replies
    1. Good question! As soon as I got the time to do this kind of comparison, I will do (with one of the DD omnibus for example).

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    2. and this is done (I have includes the comparison in the main article)

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  2. Fantastic review and what a stellar book! Congrats on the fine fine acquisition. I missed the boat on this one, and I am afraid to look for this in the after-market for fear of having a heart attack when I imagine the prices. But at least Marvel at last capitalise on this run in an oversized format, but sadly for such a small number of people. I would be more than happy with an omnibus for the whole of Claremont's run, so I'll keep my fingers crossed for the future.

    Keep up the brilliant reviews.

    I love my HC's too, and I have the bone tool device which I use to somewhat straighten out dinged corners. It doesn't get it mint again, but in my opinion, it helps greatly in uncreasing creases. If you don't have one, it could be handy.





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    Replies
    1. Many thanks for the kind words. I am intrigued about this bone tool device! Don't hesitate to tell me more about it (internet link or pictures through the contact form). Cheers!

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  3. Great review as always, my friend. You mention $1750 as "over the top", but I bet you'd consider that price for the From Hell Painfully Limited edition, right? :D

    Phenomenal acquisition sir, cheers!

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  4. Hey there JJ87! This $1750 have me reconsider a lot what will I be ready to spend for these over rare books. And the fact that I haven't pulled the gun on a (now) rarer book than the Painfully Limited edition while they were available has somehow sets a limit for the time being (but only for the time being ;) )

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  5. Hey bro,

    Here is the device I mentioned. https://www.amazon.com/Books-by-Hand-Bone-Folder/dp/B0025U13HW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498312102&sr=8-1&keywords=bone+tool+book

    Its pretty decent at uncreasing dings, and is an awesome device when applying the mylar archival brodart covers onto my dustjackets on my omnibus books.

    PS: super stoked Marvel are releasing so much awesome material via the epic collection, including the legendary new mutants run

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Huh , I didn't know they had mylar for omnibuses . I will look that up .

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  6. Hey ,
    I have the regular and I briefly and carefully opened it to view a few pages ... from what I could tell the binding was pretty stiff and the pages probably won't lay flat . I was afraid to try . I can see your using your hand to hold the pages down so I assume I am correct that this is not marvel omnibus quality spines ?

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  7. Hello,
    I have just compared it with the Miller DD omnibus and I can confirm that only the middle pages lay flat. But in my opinion it is not related to the spine binding quality. The paper being more thicker in this book than the Marvel Omnibus, the pages are pretty stiff and that can explain the difference.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah yes I think you are right about that .

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  8. Amazing... there must be $1750 around here somewhere...

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    Replies
    1. yes, but one year later still haven't found it :)!

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  9. Hello! Please correct me if i am mistaken, but this volume seems to be blown-up comic page scans. The original art would have been in black and white, no?

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  10. Hello. The "full colour original art edition" denomination only refers to the art print added with the book which is an original and unique piece of art drawn and hand painted by Bill Sienkiewicz.

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  11. I bought this from ebay after seeing this post - thanks for posting it. The most I've ever spent on a book!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is a great book. Hope you will enjoy it as much as I am

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  12. Any idea what the current value of this book is? I'm considering selling mine. I believe the number is in the 400s, but I could be wrong. Might be in the 700s? I don't have it at my present location. I cant find any copies for sale anywhere online.

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  13. Hi Jay. I do not know the current value for this book. An ebay auction in December 2020 show that the book was proposed at $450. Kind regards

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Vark. I think I saw one go for $260, maybe that was it? I know I'm not letting mine go for that. I might consider $450 though.

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    2. Hey Jay, If you are interested in selling your copy ($450) contact me at shoot@thekillerrabbit.com Send me pictures and info. Thanks!

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