Very basically, the Artist's Edition format is a hardcover-bound facsimiles of original art at original size.
This format allows for people to simulate owning original art at a fraction of the cost of buying it.
There are a two things that muddies the basic definition.
- Publishers aside from IDW have their own names for theirs.
- IDW also started 3 other lines: Artifact, Artisan, and Portfolio.
Below is a chart I put together to explain the differences.
Feature Chart
| Bound | Original Art @ Original Size | Original Art @ Reduced Size | Complete Story | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Artist’s Edition (IDW) Apex Edition (2000AD) Archival Edition (Hermes Press) Art Edition (Dynamite) Curator's Edition (Kitchen Sink Books/Dark Horse) Gallery Edition (Dark Horse & DC/Graphitti Designs) Original Art Archives (Genesis West) Original Art Edition (Titan) Studio Edition (Fantagraphics) |
Yes Hardcover |
Yes 1, 2, 3 |
No | Yes |
| Artifact Edition (IDW) | Yes Hardcover |
Yes 4 | No | No |
| Artisan Edition (IDW) | Yes Hardcover or Softcover |
No | Yes | Sometimes 5 |
| Artist's Edition Portfolio (IDW), Portfolios (various) | No Unbound |
Yes 6 | No | Sometimes 7 |
Notes
- Exception: A minor amount of pages may be missing. In those cases, the publisher will replace with high-resolution scans or other versions of the art
- Exception: A few titles have art that is slightly reduced due to the vast size of the original art. To my knowledge, the exceptions are Charles M Schulz's Peanuts Artist's Edition and Hal Foster's Prince Valiant Studio Edition.
- Mostly 12"x17" or 15"x22". However, the extremes are 9"x13" and 17"x23.25".
- Mostly 12"x17".
- Wally Wood's EC Comics and Dave Stevens's Rocketeer do. I'm unsure if Jack Kirby's Pencils & Inks and Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles do or not.
- Mostly 12"x18".
- These portfolios contain full stories: Bernie Wrightson's Muck Monster, Michael Golden's G I Joe Yearbook, Neal Adams's Thrill Kill, Russ Heath's Yellow Heat, Walt Simonson's Lawnmower Man. These portfolios do not contain full stories: EC Covers, Gabriel Rodriguez's Locke Key, Gabriel Rodriguez's Locke Key Cover, Walt Simonson's Ragnarok, Wally Wood's THUNDER Agents.
External Links
General Resources
Highly Recommended: Comic Book Daily's Artist's Edition Index http://www.aeindex.org
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