Wow!

I mean...just....Wow!

How nice does this new book published by IDW of the late and great Dave Steven's Rocketeer look?

I first became aware of Dave's work my first year of art school. One of the great things about art school is not only the learning you get from the various teachers but the students you live and go to school with as well. Everyone around you loves art so you're exposed to a lot of artists and books you've never heard of before.

I'm not sure who first made me look at the collected Rocketeer graphic novel but I'm sure the initial conversation went, "you don't know who Dave Stevens is and have never seen the Rocketeer??? READ THIS!"

Within the week I had bought my own copy.

So now, years later and after his untimely passing, IDW is putting out "Dave Steven's: The Rocketeer, Artist's Edition."

It's every page of Dave's Rocketeer work scanned in color right from the original page. This way you can see every cut and paste mark, every blue line sketch under the ink lines, and all the actual work it took to make every page so beautiful. Some people may not like seeing the "man behind the curtain" aspect of a book printed like this but, for me, it really gets my juices flowing and makes me want to work. Nothing inspires me more than to see the actual nuts and bolts of how something is put together.

And, even seeing the few posted pages on the website really fired me up.

This book comes out sometime this summer, after the San Diego Comicon. so, if anyone out there wants to buy me a gift, put this at the top of the list!