davidh777

I really liked it, but I almost wished I had sprung for the deluxe collection so I'd have more to look at. Even the second story seemed a significant drop-off from the first one. But I love the '30s era.

Paul_SD

IDW has put up an order page for The Rocketeer Artists Edition.
This will be an oversized HC shot directly from the boards and printed on heavyweight matte paper.
It is expected to be as close to the original pages as possible, revealing things like the blue lines, whiteout corrections, and ink density, etc. It is ONLY available direct from IDW, or for pick-up from their booth at the SDCC. It won't be solicited through Diamond, so anyone that wants it is going to have to pony up full price - I ordered mine for $114 yesterday ($100 + $14 shipping).

Not thrilled about the price, but I am excited by the style of the presentation promised. Considering I just squeaked in on ordering the Deluxe last Dec, I wasn't going to waffle on this.

here's the link in case anyone else is interested

Patman

I feel like I'm getting milked on these Dave Stevens offerings, but I'm still on the fence on this oversized 12"x17" Artists Edition of his Rocketeer pages.

dx23

The rumor is that IDW will announce a new Rocketeer series at the San Diego Comic Con.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/07/...ontent=Twitter

Paul_SD

Sigh

This was Dave's baby. Just retire the character, like sports teams do with jersey #'s. I 'd hate to see the character get marketed into the ground just because the creator is no longer around to protect the rights.

MarkHarrill

Agreed. Interested to see who the all-stars are though.

JustinCleveland

I'll give it a chance. A creative team who is invested in the character could do some wonderful things.

The Valeyard

Before Stevens died, he was planning on bringing out a Rocketeer anthology with other creators working on the title (that he'd oversee). I'm game for the IDW version but not too sure how it'll go without Stevens input.

Paul_SD

To me, it's not so much that the project would or would not be authorized, or even that Stevens initially had something like this cooking all along. I would have been disappointed to see him still here doing it.
The strip was this small little handcrafted thing (despite a lot of various assists towards the end) that was simple and modest and brief. And the brevity for me was a large part of it's charm.

Yes, the concept could easily support a monthly floppy for years, or individual collections ad nauseum- but once it starts getting industrialized, like any other Marvel/Dc factory character, that charm- of something rare and special- is going to fly away, no matter how good some of the individual story lines might be.

If William Stout does a story, I'd pick that up- more for his work than for the character. But other than that I'm not looking forward to seeing the property become over exposed and common. I won't get on a soapbox about it, but I do think it's disappointing and creatively inert for IDW to go this route. Just think if Stevens, instead of coming up with something original to fill those initial pages in Starslayer, had merely licensed an existing character(s).
A project like this really strikes me as a homage of a homage- a xerox of a xerox. Eventually all the effortless charm and novelty of the original just becomes posterized.

The Valeyard

I picked up the Artists Edition from IDW on Saturday. It is a work of beauty. The pages are gorgeous! Heavy duty stuff.

They had Dave's mom there signing large Rocketeer prints for free. I gotta say, I was pretty happy to get one.

MarkHarrill

Oh crap. My wife is gonna be pissed.

Paul_SD

Apparently there are less than 109 copies of this available via the website. Someone tested the quantities available last night and that was the most they could order.

I think the total print run was 1600- although I've also heard 300, but I find the latter a little hard to believe. Some of the run was supposed to be allocated to LCSs, so the former figure makes more sense.

At $100 they won't be flying off the shelf, but I don't want to tempt fate either. Not after what happened to the Deluxe Edition and Brush With Passion first runs.
________________

Edit- Just checked and they are down to 88 avail now.

MarkHarrill

You sold me on it. Thanks and I will duck when the box arrives.

Paul_SD

they're down to 82 now. They sold 6 in the last hour and a half.

Just how many did you order Mark?

I'm surprised how quick these seem to be moving. They may be out of 'em by the end of the week.

MarkHarrill

I will admit to buying 2. You never know what might happen when the sell out.

I know the Deluxe Edition investment was very, very good to me. Still have a couple extras sitting on the shelf for a rainy day.

Patman

Oh WTH, I'm in for at least one as well!

Paul_SD

I entertained the idea of ordering more than one, but I got cold feet. I'm concerned that after the experience with the Deluxe book, the speculators will be ordering these in quantity. Plus the print run is 1600 (I talked to CSR again today who confirmed this). They allocated 300 to sell online, and I'm guessing a few more for point of purchase at the Con, and the rest are going to Diamond- so there will definitely be copies floating around retail after IDW sells out.

With one extra, you're not likely to get burned. I'm tempted to order a second, just to use it as a textbook. Don't want to risk gunking up my one library copy.

BTW she also mentioned the Deluxe is totally gone. I don't know why Amazon is saying they are waiting for more stock cause it sure don't like any more is coming anytime soon.

kevin75

You might want to get rid of them. I read that there's a second printing coming out in October.

BTW, the number available now stands at 69.

MarkHarrill

One for me and one for the future sales pile. I don't get the price volatility, but I bet it is north of $150 for at least a short time. I did get $350 for one copy of the deluxe Rocketeer.

An Alias Omnibus fetched over $400 last year and I still don't get that one. I was happy to have the $400 though.

Paul_SD

The 2nd printing of the Deluxe was just solicited for October release. They mention something about a a color variant on the slipcase- I suppose to distinguish between printings.
But yeah, it looks like if you were planning to sell any other copies off it's either the next two months, or wait until the second printing is exhausted.

Still 69 available- looks like the sales frenzy is over. This might be a good thing in the long run. I think this book will be a sleeper due to the high sticker price- and if it takes a while for IDW to sell out their remaining stock, they'll be less inclined to go to a second printing anytime soon.

I did end up going back and canceling my order (again)- and re-ordered 2 copies this time. Shipping was $14 for one vs $18 for the two. One will be a mint file copy, and one to practice with in the studio.

MarkHarrill

Sold out at IDW. Looks like they are already heading north of $150 on eBay. My copies have not arrived yet, but it looks like I can sell one and have mine for free.

Love it when a plan comes together.

Paul_SD

I don't know about that.
They went from 69 to 72 to Out Of Stock in about a day.
Something else is going on- unless someone went and dropped $7000 expecting to make a killing.

Rex Power Colt-Robot Man

Could be they packed up their inventory and taking them to cons. ChicagoCon is coming up in a week or so.

EDIT: Nevermind Just checked the site and dosent look like they are going there. So the mystery remains.

Paul_SD

They are hitting other retailers now. Bud Plant and Stuart Ng both have them and are selling them at $150.

Apparently I missed the info that IDW was offering pre-orders at a reduced price compared to retail from other sources. Never would have guessed $100 would be a bargain, but it's looking like that's what it is.

I'm thinking now they might let the retail price sink in with people and then put the rest of the books back up on their site, making the deal look that much better in comparison.