Acclaimed illustrator Andrew Skilleter, perhaps best known for his Doctor Who art, is offering Cybermen fans the opportunity to buy a unique edition of the Cybermen book first published by Who Dares/Silver Fist in 1988 – a limited facsimile edition of actor David Banks the Cyberleader’s personal copy No 1, in a Limited Hand Bound embossed ‘titanium’ Silver Edition.
You can find this Collector’s Item on Ebay as a Buy It Now/Best Offer listing offered for sale by Andrew Skilleter, offered as a Limited Edition of just 75 copies of this classic title. But be warned, it’s strictly an item for the well heeled fan, with a cover price just short of £800 reflecting its manufacture and rarity.
David Banks portrayed the Cyberleader throughout the 1980s, in Earthshock, Attack of the Cybermen, Silver Nemesis and The Five Doctors and his much-acclaimed Cybermen book was first published in 1988, with an introduction by the Cybermen’s co-creator, Gerry Davis. The book was extensively illustrated by Target and Classic Who artist, Andrew Skilleter together with numerous photographs and graphics, then later re-released in paperback by Virgin Books. The title was voted some years back as one of the best ever Doctor Who books of any any kind.
This limited edition, individually bound, large format hardbound book is hand bound in a textured silver fabric. Embossed on the front cover is the Cybermark personalised with ‘D’ on the left and ‘B’ on the right.It has high quality heavy weight textured black end-papers, followed by two heavyweight grey papers with the certificate mounted on the right hand side numbered as 1/75 and signed in silver by David Banks, who played the Cyberleader in several Doctor Who stories, and in black by Andrew Skilleter and the book binder. There’s also a silver’ ‘D’ & ‘B’ initialed by David Banks either side of the certificate title.
This unique, if incredibly expensive collectable edition comes protected by a sturdy black cloth slipcase and offered in a deliberately ‘distressed’ appearance unique to each special edition, (the photograph above doesn’t do justice to the embossed Cybermark). The slip case shows some signs of shelf wear and a just perceptible fade on the open edge, we assume to give the impression of the book being a well Cyber-thumbed tome.
One for determined Cybermen collectors to check out. Perhaps they can use some of the gold they have set aside just in case of a Cybermen invasion…
– Andrew Skilleter’s official web site: www.andrewskilleter.com
– Facebook fan Page http://www.facebook.com/artofandrewskilleter
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Doctor Who