.

Okay, I was a bit late on noticing the Daredevil edition, but IDW’s site says

New This Week

so I’m ahead of the curve on this one!  This was announced back in 2011, but here it is!

Which issues are being collected?

IDW says “This Artist’s Edition measures 12 x 17 inches and features four oversized issues, including extras. Added bonus: the very first Groo story by Sergio (in redrawn form) will also be in this book.”  No statement on which four issues will be shown.  Since it’s a four-part story, it is probably from the Dark Horse era (1998-    ).  The very first appearance of Groo was in Destroyer Duck #1, which was reprinted in:

  • The Groo Chronicles (Marvel, 1989 series) #2
  • Groo Special (Eclipse, 1984 series) #1

The cover shown above is from… I don’t know.  It’s not from the Pacific or Marvel/Epic runs.  The Grand Comics Database didn’t show it.  It’s possible it is an image from an interior page, as the covers are usually somewhat sedate and illustrative.  The logo is from 1991, although it has been modified with a curl at the bottom (near the sword). Was it designed by Stan Sakai?

Here’s the text from IDW themselves:

Sergio Aragonés’ Groo the Wanderer: Artist’s Edition PRE-ORDER

Availability: In stock

$100.00
Quick Overview
This item is available for PRE-ORDER ONLY. It will not ship until it becomes available in July 2012.

IDW proudly presents SERGIO ARAGONÉS’ GROO THE WANDERER: ARTIST’S EDITION, collecting a classic four-part story in its entirety by the Mad, Manic, and Marvellous SERGIO ARAGONÉS! Sergio began his career at Mad Magazine in the early 1960s and has been drawing comics ever since.

In 1982 Sergio, with his frequent collaborator Mark Evanier, launched Groo the Wanderer. Groo has since become one of the most memorable and loveable characters of the last 30 years. This Artist’s Edition measures 12 x 17 inches and features four oversized issues, including extras. Added bonus: the very first Groo story by Sergio (in redrawn form) will also be in this book. This Artist’s Edition is shipped in a custom cardboard box for maximum protection. Available in July.

Brought to you by the same team responsible for the Eisner Award-winning Dave Stevens’ The Rocketeer: The Artist’s Edition, as well as Wally Wood’s EC Stories: Artist’s Edition.

WHAT IS AN ARTIST’S EDITION?

AN ARTIST’S EDITION PRESENTS COMPLETE STORIES WITH EACH PAGE SCANNED FROM THE ACTUAL ORIGINAL ART.

While appearing to be in black and white, each page was scanned in color to mimic as closely as possible the experience of viewing the actual original art—for instance, corrections, blue pencils, paste-overs, all the little nuances that make original art unique. Each page is printed the same size as drawn, and the paper selected is as close as possible to the original art board.

Product Description

HC • Black & White • 144 Pages • 12” x 17”

Creative Team

Writer Mark Evanier (Script), Sergio Aragonés (Story & Art)
Cover Artist Sergio Aragonés
Collection Editor Scott Dunbier

UPDATE:

The book will collect the four-part storyline “The Wager of the Gods,” which originally appeared in “Groo the Wanderer” #96-99.  [1992-93]

[…]

While the Aragones volume will collect one complete “Groo” story, Jack Davis’ book, like the just-released Wally Wood, will contain a collection of shorter works, though Dunbier said the lineup has not yet been solidified. “It is sort of a movable thing. There will be a selection of really great stories, but I have to be a little bit cagey because I don’t want to disappoint people by telling them something’s going to be in it and then it gets bumped,” he said. “I can tell you one story that will be in is ‘Foul Play,’ the famous baseball story.” That story, which first appeared in “The Haunt of Fear” #19 in 1953, was one of the tales specifically cited by Frederic Wertham in “Seduction of the Innocent,” placing it at the center of the censorship and morality debate that would ultimately lead to the creation of the Comics Code Authority.
The Jack Davis Artist’s Edition is expected late 2012.
The Groo logo is re-purposed from Sergio Aragonés Groo the Wanderer #96.  The cover shown above is not one of the four covers from the storyline.
The Groo Treasury scheduled for October 2009 was cancelled in July of that year by Dark Horse.

1 COMMENT

  2. While I love Groo and spent an enormous amount of money to go to a Montreal convention to get Sergio to do a recreation of my favorite cover (#40)…this is a really expensive book…$130 to ship to Canada is enormous for what amounts to four issues. For that kind of money Sergio needs to sign it and it needs to be a limited edition.

  3. These Artist’s Editions are usually limited editions. IDW only goes back to print if there is huge demand for a second printing (as seen with the Wally Wood book).

    IDW has offered a few signed editions… there was the recent John Romita book, signed by Romita and Stan Lee, with a sketch.
    $250 152 pages. $100 for the regular edition

  5. In the description, it says the book will be 144 pages.

    “Wager of the Gods” is something like 28 pages for each of the four segments, plus 4 pages of covers and additional material, for a total of 128 pages.

    The first Groo story to be publihed was 4 pages. The original artwork was lost so Sergio completely redrew it for reprinting in the Groo Special #1 published by Eclipse in 1984.

    The very first Groo story, not the first published, was “The Music of the Murkos!” which was started in 1977, but not published until Groo Special #1 from Eclipse (1984). It is about 18 pages.

    The fun part to imagine is the possible inclusion of some of the artwork which Sergio did on the backs of story pages which Stan Sakai, Mark Evanier, and others have mentioned over the years. Now that would be some truly awesome bonus material.

    Needless to say, this will be an awesome book!

  6. I had the pleasure to meet him once in El Paso (of all places) at a tiny comic con. Even still, he was swamped and VERY gracious. I had brought along a handful of GROO comics with me and was going to ask him to sign one or two, but he just kept grabbing them and singing them so quickly that I didn’t even realize until later that he had also put an original sketch next to each signature. We only got to speak for a moment (through an interpreter, as his English wasn’t all that great and my College Spanish — a mixture of Mexican and South American accents — didn’t help much, either). I remember him being very gracious and just plain nice.

    Needless to say, I’m very interested in this book…

  7. The art being used as the prospective cover is from a puzzle page in Epic #96.
    The very first Groo page that Sergio drew is in the middle of “The Music of the Murkos!” He then created a story around the one-page gag, as indicated by Steve Hubbell above.
    But whatever pages are used to fill up the balance of the 144 page volume, it will be great!