In a post-war context, with the Parisian atmosphere of the 1950s, find your favourite detective, the famous Atom Vercorian, at the heart of an affair that will not leave you indifferent.
This deluxe print contains the complete album of 54 original facsimile reproduction plates, as well as 61 pages of colour graphic research notebook and unpublished illustrations. 64 colour pages, in A4 format, of Olivier Schwartz pencilled facsimile pages are also included in this exceptional luxury print.
You will also find 9 pages of an unpublished story signed by Yann and Olivier Schwartz on the occasion of Gil Jourdan’s 60th birthday. In the same way, an ex-libris in 3 colour passages serigraph, in the format 27 x 32 cm, produced by the company Experience and signed by Olivier Schwartz will be provided to you.
This magnificent deluxe volume in the format 30 x 40 cm is printed on 150 g Superior Munken Paper. It has a cardboard cover, an anti-scratch matte varnish, a rounded blue canvas spine with hot stamping of the title.
Limited edition of 295 copies numbered and signed by Olivier Schwartz.
- Editions Black & White, June 2021
- ISBN 979-1-09498-888-6
- 30cm x 40cm, 120 pages, hardcover
- 199 €
- Order online: CollectorBD, Editions Black & White
As with all AE format material (Artist’s Editions, Artifact Editions, Gallery Editions, Art Editions, Studio Editions, etc.), this is a collection of classic comic material and I’ll be reviewing the book and not the story. For a complete list of all current and announced editions, with review links, please visit our Index. Also, see What is an Artist’s Edition and our Artist Index. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
Another outstanding collection from Editions Black & White, this time collecting the second volume of Atom Agency featuring the wonderful art of Olivier Schwartz. This is not just a book but a complete package with two books and a signed print. First up is Petit Hanneton: Les Planches Originales, 30cm x 40cm, with a tipped-in signature plate, 54 inked pages of the story, plus a 9-page black and white story entitled Omelette et Sables Mouvants, and a substantial gallery section. Next is Petit Hanneton: Les Pages Crayonées, 21cm x 29cm, a softcover providing the complete story of pencilled pages. Lastly is a 27cm x 32cm signed and numbered serigraph (silkscreen print). Signed and numbered, the book and print matching in number.
Scan quality is excellent: everything you want to see with no reproduction or scanning issues. This art is quite recent, but the paper has an off-white to very light tan appearance. The inks are very dark with slight gradients. Blue pencil is used for all word balloons and throughout the art. Minor use of correction fluid. Clean art with enough visible process to engage. The pencils softcover has a lot more to discover for process junkies, with tight pencils, rough word balloons and mostly finished backgrounds. The eight-page Gil Jourdan story appears to be the black and white art, not the original artboards. It’s very clean and presents well.
It’s human nature to want what you don’t have, but the inclusion of the pencils softcover makes me wish they were the same size as the inked pages and included in the hardcover. I don’t know if they are the same size, but they appear to be what Schwartz inked. Better to be thankful for having them as part of this package. As well, the Gil Jourdan original art would have been welcome.
The gallery is so extensive it’s half of the book and covers a very wide look at this book, from research through character sketches and roughs to rejected pages and Spirou covers. Plus all that colour that even die-hard fans of original art appreciate.
Poirier’s design is excellent. I love the blues that move from the cover and spine throughout the hardcore and softcover, tying it all together. Text placement is well balanced and unobtrusive.
Production is outstanding. Wacker appears to take each element into consideration to produce something truly outstanding. A sewn binding of 150gsm matte Munken paper with a cloth spine. The softcover is perfect bound with lightweight matte paper. It all comes in a cardboard box with a small colour sticker showing a cropped image and UPC.
Interestingly, for such a detailed and luxurious package, the box interior is taller than the book and a small plastic insert is added to keep the book in place. As well, the softcover is placed on top of the hardcover and just floats around in the box.
I went with Édition De Luxe as the book’s title as I found that on the colophon. These French AE format volumes seem to frequently fall under tirage de tête, but that seems to reference the inclusion of a print which isn’t always the case. It’s a linguistic mystery to me, but it’s no mystery that I love Editions Black and White.
