By Chris Tresson

It’s Tuesday night as I’m writing this. I’m usually wrapped up and looking at next week’s review copies by this point in the week… but this week has been diabolical for review-worthy material, so I’ve found myself looking for something different, something that might cheer me up... I think I’ve found it in the form of one of IDW’s Artist's Editions. 

This Artist's Edition’s co-published with Marvel Comics and if you’ve read the title of the review, you’ll know that this one is Chris Samnee’s Daredevil. This volume collects issues twenty-three through twenty-seven in their raw form (and it’s the absolute bollocks!) 

Although I don’t have a physical copy in front of me, I know these artist editions really are something to behold. If you've ever seen one out in the wild; you'll know that they're the size of fucking tombstones, they’re heavy as shit and if you buy one, there's absolutely no way one will fit on your shitty Ikea bookshelf… but it doesn’t stop you staring them. They are gorgeous, and if you’re going to invest in one, there’s a fair few of them worth owning. 

As a Daredevil fan and a big fan of Mark Waid and Chris Samnee’s run on Daredevil, this one is a real treat for me. I loved this run and seeing the art again fills me with nostalgia. It takes me back to a time before I got all of my books on the cheap and could only afford a handful of titles. This was easily my favorite book at that time and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. The stories were great but the art really made the series (and I’d go as far as to say it’s one of the best runs on a comic in recently comic book history.)

There’s a lot of great panels and layouts in these issues, and seeing them bare-bones, pencil and ink gives the reader a great insight into the artist’s work. It’s little things I love here; like Chris’ notes on each page of how long the page has taken him to pencil and ink, the hand-drawn sound effects and the production notes. His thumbnails are remarkable and the art is absolutely breath-taking. Samnee has such a great style and it fits the character beautifully, which makes me pine for him to have another crack at DD. I have my fingers crossed he’ll return to the title at some point…

I got about halfway through the review PDF and realized that I was kind of cheating myself out of the full experience by looking at it on a computer screen. So I stopped my review halfway through and went on the Diamond retailer site to have a look at what the damage would be to get my hands on it… It wasn’t that bad, haha. It looks like it would actually cost less than those absolute editions DC Comics put out, and I have a few of those.

I might buy it... It has given me absolutely no reason why I shouldn’t buy it... It’s a really nice looking book and I would be happy to own it. If you were/are a fan of Samnee’s run on Daredevil, I think you’ll want it, too. See if your local comic shop has it, and if they don’t, get them to order you one in. I don’t think you’ll regret it!

Score: 5/5

Chris Samnee's Daredevil Artist's Edition
Artist: Chris Samnee
Publisher: Marvel Comics/IDW Publishing