John Buscema has been called one of the finest comic artists who ever put pen to paper. His work for Marvel Comics on The Avengers, Thor, the Fantastic Four, and Silver Surfer are all classics, highly regarded by fans from around the world. The same is true for his definitive rendition of Conan the Barbarian-Buscema breathed life into Robert E. Howard’s legendary creation in a manner that has rarely been rivaled.
IDW is proud to announce the first American publication of John Buscema: Comics & Drawings, a special edition of the fine art catalog created for the most extensive exhibition of Buscema’s art ever staged. Weighing in at nearly 300 pages, this gorgeous hardcover book is a dream come true for fans of the visual mastery of John Buscema, an artist who’s ilk we are unlikely to see again.
- IDW Publishing, July 11, 2012
- ISBN 978-1613771952
- 9.7″ x 11.2″, 328 pages, hardcover
- $59.99 USD
- Order online: Amazon, eBay, AbeBooks
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.
A career retrospective of the extremely prolific John Buscema wrapped in the framework of an exhibition catalogue. Monograph may be more accurate. This is a new printing by IDW of the catalogue put together by Éditions Déesse in hardcover.
This is a complete look at Buscema’s career with an opinionated biography by Florentino Flórez. It opens with a foreword by Dolores Buscema and an introduction by Faustino Rodriguez, ending with a complete checklist. It’s rich and deeply researched, providing most everything you’d need to know. Text runs in two columns, English and Italian. Accompanying this are rich examples of comic art, either from the printed comic or from original art.
The art is a visual reference to the text, and the original art is the focus here. There are 109 full pages of original art, with over 100 of them full comic pages. The Silver Surfer pages and covers have appeared in John Buscema’s Silver Surfer Artist’s Edition, but the rest of the material I didn’t have collected.
All scans are clear and clean with no visual issues. The art ranges from rough pencil sketches to inked covers to coloured pages. All original comic art pages are presented one per page, with sketches having multiples per page. We get the full page, with border and production notes.
A sewn binding of medium glossy paper stock. The design is bright and effective. Mixing original art with published comic art gives opportunities to have the reader’s attention kept throughout. Every image has the title, issue number, date, and inker. The original art also lists the medium, dimensions, and owner.
Another book that I’ve had on my shelf for years but never got around to reading through. There is a large amount of original art included but that’s not the focus, only aiding in telling the story of John Buscema. It’s become tough to find and commands a high price on the secondary market.
