Pulp: The Process Edition

Image Comics; $39.99

Whether on Criminal, The Fade Out, Incognito, their current Reckless series, or any of their other projects, writer Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips have been a dynamic creative team for about two decades. Along the way they’ve fostered a strong following among their fans and generated no small amount of praise from their fellow professionals.

Released in its original hardcover format in July 2020, Pulp is the story of 1930s pulp fiction writer Max Winters, author of cheap westerns. He ends up being drawn into a web of intrigue with bank robbers, Nazi spies, and enemies from his own past. The original solicitation text from Image Comics described it as “One part thriller, one part meditation on a life of violence…” and they were correct.

The book landed well with fans and critics, and soon a trade paperback version was issued, and along with their other works it’s continued to sell.

Pulp: The Process Edition is a massive expansion on what we had previously. Not only does this hardcover include the complete original graphic novel, but it’s a seemingly candied step-by-step tour through Brubaker and Phillips’ creative process. From handwritten notes in notebooks to concept art, and from thumbnails to the finished art, it affords a real look behind the scenes into the creation of Pulp and the way these two longtime partners collaborate.

So often the “director’s cut” type of editions that publishers release are just the strip mining of variant covers taken to another, more expense level, but Pulp: The Process Edition really delivers.

– J.C. Vaughn