Two Steranko Artist’s Editions on the way from IDW

Jim Steranko, famed artist for tons of classic Marvel Comics characters will be getting the Artist’s Edition treatment from not just one, but two editions from publisher IDW.

Artist’s Editions, if you don’t know, are direct scans of the original works. What that basically means is that they’re in black and white and contain all of the ‘corrections’ and notations that the actual pieces of artwork from the hand of the artist. In this case, we’re talking about Steranko.

“Jim Steranko’s impact on comics as an art form cannot be understated,” said editor Scott Dunbier. “He is an artist and trailblazer of the highest order.”

Indeed he is, Steranko might be a little less known than the likes of Kirby and Lee, but he was tremendously influential and continues to be so today. His run on Nick Fury in the 1960’s and ’70s, first inking and then penciling was huge from a lot of standpoints, but ore than anything else cemented the character as a Marvel fixture.

“I believe that I changed Nick Fury’s life as much as he changed mine,” Steranko says, “and looking over the original art again celebrates a flood of memories evincing the kind of rampant, seismic creativity that went into their creation. I can see my artistic evolution expand by the story, even by the page, and revisiting that experience can be simultaneously reassuring and shocking—a kind of microcosm of comic book history. As one of the architects of the Marvel Age, I’m pleased to share the sweep and nuance of the S.H.I.E.L.D. epic with all my fans and friends.”

Both volumes that are on the way celebrate different eras of the artist’s stint with volume 2 having a good deal of Captain America involved in it too.

The first volume, Steranko Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Artist’s Edition, will feature the initial twelve stories by Steranko that appeared in Strange Tales #151 through #162. All of these stories were drawn in the “twice up” format, meaning the original art is rendered at twice the size of the printed comic. The final book will measure 15 x 22 inches and is currently scheduled for release in May of 2014.

The second volume, Steranko Nick Fury and Captain America Artist’s Edition, will collect the remaining Nick Fury stories from Strange Tales 163-168, as well as issues 1, 3, and 5 of the Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. comic series. As icing on the cake, Steranko’s three stellar issues of Captain America will also be included. This volume will measure 12 x 17 inches, and the release date is still to be determined.

If you’re a comics lover, then these are two editions that you probably don’t want to miss. watch for both to arrive from IDW in 2014.