Jim Lee’s X-Men–The #1 bestselling comic of all-time arrives in a giant Artist’s Edition

The next over-sized hardcover, deep dive into the artwork behind a successful comic book run focuses on the X-Men artwork of Jim Lee. Before he rose up the corporate ladder at Marvel Comics, along with Scott Williams he created the art for what would become the single biggest bestselling comic book issue of all-time, the October 1991 first issue of the new X-Men series (Written by Chris Claremont). Selling more than 8 million copies, it rivaled everything that came before or since (for comparison, next place went to Star Wars #1 in 2015, which netted more than 1 million copies with no other comic book rising above six figures in sales). The entire 37-page issue consisting of the original black and white pencils and inks is being reprinted at its 1:1 scale original size as drawn by Lee, 12×17 inches. It’s all coming together in Jim Lee’s X-Men Artist’s Edition, available now in a deluxe hardcover format. But the book has much more than that popular issue inside. Check out a sneak peek below.

Just as we saw with Howard Chaykin and Roy Thomas’s earlier Art Edition for Star Wars (reviewed here at borg), and Walter Simonson Star Wars Artist’s Edition (reviewed here at borg), Jim Lee’s X-Men Artist’s Edition presents high-quality copies of the original page art. Unlike many past Artist’s Editions, however, the entire lettering and logos are all present, so readers can re-visit the entire issue (minus ads) and a lot more. Altogether look for more than 100 other reproductions of Lee’s original artwork from major issues, including covers, splashes, pin-ups, interior pages, and trading cards, as well as a double foldout of all four X-Men #1 connecting covers.

In addition to the regular edition offered through comic shops and booksellers, IDW offered a limited 175-copy signed and numbered edition, which instantly sold out, but can be tracked down on the aftermarket. It features an alternate cover (the original artwork to X-Men #5 from February 1992, shown above), and comes with a bound-in signature plate autographed by Jim Lee and Scott Williams.

Take a look at the original inked artwork in these stunning preview pages of Jim Lee’s X-Men Artist’s Edition presented for borg readers courtesy of IDW Publishing: