Classic Marvel Comics fans, IDW Publishing has some good news for you: they’re teaming with Yoe Books for a new hardcover reprint series of Marvel material from the Golden Age onward.
Publishers digging into their archives is nothing new, from Masterworks to Complete Collections to Epic Collections and more. What sets this new venture apart, at least from the outset, is that their first release is a dedicated book of comic art rather than a story reprint collection. Marvel Masterwork Pin-Ups will collect exactly what the title promises: pin-up pages from a variety of issues and artists. This is a rare treat, as pin-ups — which used to appear inside Annuals or “Giant-Sized” issues — have often only been reprinted in the Omnibus books (unless you’re lucky enough to own the original comics, that is).
So far, the company has revealed art by Steve Ditko (Spider-Man, Doctor Strange) and Jack Kirby (The Thing), though the press release offers many more names, including Jim Steranko, Wally Wood, Barry Windsor-Smith, and John Byrne. Curiously, they also refer to this being a lineup of “legendary Silver Age creators”; while Windsor-Smith debuted at Marvel in the late 1960s, Byrne’s work didn’t appear until well into the Bronze Age.
IDW has yet to announce any future books in the series, but based on the first offering alone this is off to a promising start. The official press release is below:
SAN DIEGO, CA (April 2, 2019) – IDW Publishing and Yoe Books are proud to announce a new line of Marvel Comics collections, a sensational series of large-format hardcovers curating the finest artwork from the Golden Age’s four-color foundations all the way up to the Marvel Age’s dizzying heights!
Coinciding with the year-long celebration of Marvel’s 80 years of publishing, Yoe Books will debut their retrospective look at the House of Ideas with Marvel Masterwork Pin-Ups, which will be followed by additional entries in 2019.
In Marvel Masterwork Pin-Ups, the pulsating pin-up artwork of legendary Silver Age creators – including Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Jim Steranko, Don Heck, John Byrne, Barry Windsor-Smith, John Severin, Wally Wood, Dan Decarlo, John Romita, and many more – is collected for the first time ever into a single volume, accompanied throughout with witty wordage, pulse-pounding patter, and zany zingers by Stan “The Man” Lee!
Fans will treasure large, deftly drawn pin-ups by these marvelous artists of Spider-Man, Thor, Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, The Hulk, The X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and many more, plus nefarious villains led by Doctor Doom – and even Millie the Model by Dan DeCarlo!
“I’m the person that I am (such as that is) because of Stan, Jack, Steve, and the other early Marvel creators inspiring me in my Peter Parker teenage-years,” says multiple Eisner Award-winning editor Craig Yoe. “To take this ‘journey into history’ with this – the first in a line of Marvel books – is an amazing, fantastic, incredible thrill for this proud charter member of the Merry Marvel Marching Society!”
Marvel Masterwork Pin-Ups is now available for pre-order via online booksellers and comic book specialty retailers. Visit www.comicshoplocator.com to find a store near you.
Marvel Masterwork Pin-Ups
by Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Jim Steranko, Don Heck, John Byrne, et al.
ISBN 978-1-68405-520-3
$34.99 (US)
120-page, color squarebound hardcover, 9″ x 12″
Does this book look like something you’ll be checking out? Are you excited for a new hardcover series of classic art material? Leave us a comment!
