So you’re packing your bags for the 2015 edition of the San Diego Comic Con?
Congratulations! You’re going to have a great time this weekend! But don’t bother jamming your swim trunks and your snorkel gear into your Samsonite. Or your backpack. Or your courier bag. You won’t have room. Not with all the exclusives you’ll be picking up at the Con.
And don’t forget the art tube you’ll need to store all those sketches and prints you’ll be getting. (Make sure it has a strap so you can sling it over your shoulder!)
Still, there’s time to make a Wednesday run to your local comic book shop today right?
Get into the spirit of sequential art early with today’s release of the first Image Giant-Sized Artist’s Proof Edition: Black Science #1.
Follow me after the jump where I’ll parse out that mouthful for you!
Image Giant-Sized Artist’s Proof Edition: Black Science #1
Written by: Rick Remender
Illustrated by: Matteo Scalera
Published by: Image Comics
Yeah. That title is a lot to chew on. Here, let me cut it up for you into bite-sized pieces:
IDW has been publishing these great hardcover “artists edition” compilations of creatively important comic books for a few years now – and they’ve been a huge hit. Generally, they’ve been highlighting artists like David Mazzucchelli, Jack Kirby and John Romita among others, reproducing their historic runs on certain comic book titles in the original art size. That’s 11” x 17” and you get to see all of the artist’s edits, masks, and in-the-column instructions for colourists and editors.
It’s like pulling back the curtain and seeing what makes a comic book tick, visually. Fascinating stuff.
Well, Image Comics is now getting in on that game.
Although they’re not publishing in a more expensive hardcopy edition, instead opting for an 11” x 17” softcover, the publisher with artists interests at heart is releasing the Image Giant-Sized Artist’s Proof Edition: Black Science #1, the first in an apparent series.
I’ve loved the Black Science series since it’s first issue came out a few years ago and spoke about it here and here. It’s old school science fiction fun, courtesy of acclaimed writer Rick Remender, where a group of lost scientists skip along from dimension to dimension, trying to find their way back to their own. Along the way, they encounter strange versions of earth where history is altered, monsters, betrayal and…even themselves…all the while peeling back layer after layer of the multiverse’s onion. What’s at the centre of the onion?
But it’s Matteo Scalera’s awesomely kinetic, weird ad downright fun artwork that is on display with the Image Giant-Sized Artist’s Proof Edition: Black Science #1. At the larger size, you really get an appreciation for how the artist works, lays out his page and focuses on his visual storytelling. It’s full of his black and white inks and his gauche washes. A true piece of art!
At $19.99, it’s a bit more than you usually spend on a comic book, but you should still make the run to your local comic book today and pick up the Image Giant-Sized Artist’s Proof Edition: Black Science #1.
While you’re at it, pick up the fist two volumes of Black Science (the third is due to be released next month).
Pull back the curtain and see what making comics is all about! Then go to the party and enjoy the pop culture event that is the San Diego Comic Con this weekend!
