IDW Publishing; $125

Short version: Editor Scott Dunbier and our friends at IDW Publishing might not know it, but this book is the reason they invented the Artist’s Edition format.

Longer version: As we’ve detailed previously, the Artist’s Edition format gives readers and collectors a chance to get as close as possible the experience of seeing the original art used in the production of some truly classic comic books. Each volume presents complete stories with each page scanned from the actual original art. It’s important to note that while the pages in the books appear to be black and white, like the source material, they are actually scanned in full color. As a result, corrections, blue pencils, paste-ups, editorial comments in the margins and even aging are reflected in the work. Since the pages are produced to as closely as possible mimic the size of the original art, the reader gets the experience of leafing through a one-of-a-kind portfolio.

Manhunter is the perfect subject for such a publication.

When writer-editor Archie Goodwin and artist Walter Simonson first teamed for Manhunter, it was the back-up feature in Detective Comics in 1973. When Goodwin decided to leave his position at DC, they were given permission to wrap up the feature, and they did so by crossing over with the lead feature in the title, which of course was Batman.

In the end, Manhunter was only seven chapters long, six of them just eight pages each. Yet with its cumulative 70 pages its stands as one of the best – and most acclaimed – works from its period. There are many reasons for this, but one has to consider that the biggest factor might be that Goodwin and Simonson left it all on the page; they didn’t hold anything back. It has been collected and reprinted several times, none more glorious than this one.

As a writer, Goodwin was well into his stride at that point in his career. As the Manhunter art shows, Simonson wasn’t the artist he would be 10 years later when he served as writer-artist on Thor, but he was well on the way. His distinctive page designs, dynamic storytelling, understanding of art value of lettering, and beautiful character designs were all there or at least beginning to be fully formed. To see these pages close up and at their original size, that’s why this book is a treasure.

Since the Manhunter pages would barely make a full book, IDW has supplemented them with some of Simonson’s other DC work, including outings on Batman, Dr. Fate, Metal Men, and Captain Fear, which also provide a look at his development as an artist.

– J.C. Vaughn