The Artist Edition comics published by IDW presents complete stories scanned from the original art, and reproduced at the same size. As a long time fan of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy, I was inclined to pick up this limited edition featuring the first first five issues of Hellboy in Hell, as well as supplementary materials and several items of note selected by Mignola.

Here are some photographs of the actual product. The book is massive, and comes delivered in a protective cardboard case labelled with a sticker featuring the cover art –

Some close up images of the art. Though appearing to be in black and white, each page is scanned in color to mimic as closely as possible the experience of viewing the actual art; corrections, blue pencils, paste-overs – all the little nuances that make original art unique; are visible.

(above & below) A comparison of a panel from Hellboy In Hell and some of Mignola’s earliest Hellboy comics reveal the stylistic evolution of the artist’s work. The early Hellboy had a much more hulking presence, as compared to more gaunt, drooping shoulders of him in Hellboy in Hell.

(above) A size comparison between the recently released Hellboy In Hell library edition and Hellboy Artist Edition. The former is a pretty hefty book in itself, so the image gives a good idea of just how big the Artist Edition is. The huge print size reminds me of my prized special Domu edition ( Otomo Katsuhiro ).

The artist edition comes at a pretty hefty price tag, likely because of the limited print quantity and also the bigger physical size of the book. I’m thrilled to enjoy Mike Mignola’s art work presented in a form that is as close as one can get to the original work, and I’m confident this will be a sought after collector’s item in the future ( the latter is much less important than the former to me ). Recommended.

“Hellboy Artist Edition – Mike Mignola″ comic book details :

– Dimensions – 13.4 x 1.5 x 19 inches
– Hard cover, 200 pages
– Black And White / color

Buy From Amazon CA | Amazon JP | Amazon UK | Amazon FR | Amazon IT | Amazon DE | Amazon ES

You might also be interested in these items :