An Edition Worthy of a Fine Artist

Late last year, IDW released two excellent hardcover editions, The Complete Rocketeer and The Complete Rocketeer: Deluxe Edition which compiled the entirety of artist, Dave Stevens' classic work on the character. The Complete Rocketeer: Deluxe Edition was the real treat as it featured the entire original mini-series, its follow-up mini-series, and a wealth of art from the many promotional items done by Stevens over the years not included in the smaller edition. Now taking the work of Dave Stevens one step further, IDW just released their followed-up to those initial releases, with the all new Dave Stevens' Rocketeer Artist Edition. This is an over-sized book again reprinting the Rocketeer saga, but this time it features the tale in reproductions shot from every obtainable page of Stevens' original art and covers for the book. IDW Publishing and the estate of Dave Stevens felt that this special project would be an appropriate effort to honour the work of this esteemed creator.

This book is incredible because you can get a true glimpse of how this artist worked, you can see the blue line pencil from when he roughed out the page, where he made changes via white out and even pasting in new panels or pieces of a scene, how he planned the word balloons on pages, where zip-o-tone was applied, and so much more! What you won't find in this edition are corrections, color application, finalised text, and so forth. These are what the original working pages Stevens had in his studio just as they appear. It's an amazing insight to the men's work, and these pages are truly a labour of love.

Here's more on the project from IDW:

"Dave Steven's created the 119 pages and seven covers (including an unpublished alternate)of Rocketeer art reproduced in this volume between 1984 and 1994. Nearly all of these originals remained in Stevens' possession, but over time, some were sold or given away."

"Every effort has been made to secure scans of all the original Rocketeer art for inclusion herein but two have eluded us. For consistency's sake, these pages have been reproduced from stats or film, and have been identified as such. Besides these two omissions, all pages have been shot from the original art, in color, and at the same size they were drawn, to ensure the finest quality reproduction."

"It is our hope that Dave Stevens' The Rocketeer: Artist's Edition will be the first in a series of books dedicated to showcasing outstanding artists in a format as special as their work deserves."

Bravo IDW! This is a beautiful book and an admirable effort!

I should also note that this book is extremely limited. The first copies were sold at the San Diego Comic-Con last week, and a small amount of this book was made available to comic book shops! We are fortunate enough to have a copy in both the York and Mechanicsburg stores. If you'd like to add this edition to your library, do not delay!