WALTER SIMONSON'S THE MIGHTY THOR: ARTIST'S EDITION>Media Release -- IDW Publishing is thrilled to announce the expansion of the company's acclaimed Artist's Edition series with WALTER SIMONSON'S THE MIGHTY THOR: ARTIST'S EDITION. Launching in July, this oversized, hardcover collection will present Thor 337-340, Simonson's first classic story arc, which introduced Beta Ray Bill, and Thor 360-362, Simonson's choice for the second arc in the book. WALTER SIMONSON'S THE MIGHTY THOR: ARTIST'S EDITION will be the first in a series of Artist's Editions featuring legendary creators and comics from Marvel.

"I can't tell you how thrilling it is to be able to do a book like this," said IDW Special Projects Editor, Scott Dunbier. "Each page is shot from Walter Simonson's original art and printed same size—really just too cool. Thanks to Marvel Entertainment for being so enthusiastic about this project from the start!"

Debuting at San Diego Comic Con, WALTER SIMONSON'S THOR: ARTIST'S EDITION leads with Thor #337, a groundbreaking issue in modern comics that introduced Beta Ray Bill and kicked off Simonson's legendary run on this fan-favorite title. All the pages in the ARTIST'S EDITION have been scanned from Simonson's personal original art to ensure the highest possible quality reproduction. 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, white-out corrections and blue pencil notations.

WALTER SIMONSON'S THOR: ARTIST'S EDITION ($100, hardcover, black and white, 176 pages, 12" x 17") will be available in stores in July 2011. ISBN 978-1-61377-038-2.

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