IDW Limited has announced plans for interstellar domination of your wallets this week, beginning with the Mars Attacks: Attack from Space Limited-Edition Hardcover. The book collects the first five issues of the popular IDW comic series drawn by top talent John McCrea.

Drawing on the rich card-based history by Topps, each of these highly collectible and rare books will be paired with hand-drawn sketch cards from a wide variety of artists, ranging from fine-art gallery painters to comic-book and trading-card artists.

All of the sketch cards are official Mars Attacks sketch cards provided by Topps, and foil stamped exclusively for this limited-edition release.

The Red edition will set you back $125, the Blue $400 – definitely one for the major Mars Attacks collector at those prices – but it's a handsome collectible given the promised extras if you are a fan.

“The new Mars Attacks comic has been an absolute blast!” says IDW Limited director Jerry Bennington. “And when we started designs for the limited edition, we wanted to make sure we celebrated not just the IDW comic, but the roots of the series as well. To us, that meant we had to do sketch cards, and we had to do them right.”

Working closely with Topps, IDW Limited has selected a wide variety of top creative talent to provide original, hand-illustrated as well as hand-painted sketch-card art for this special edition. Ranging in diverse style and background, the group assembled for this book is unrivaled in experience and talent. From series artist John McCrea to alternative gallery painter Apricot Mantle to popular trading-card artist Nar!, each participant brings a unique view and twist to the Mars Attacks universe.

“I grew up drawing 'Mars Attacks my school' on the back of my bio homework ,” says gallery artist Apricot Mantle. “To have the chance to be a part of this book, it’s almost unbelievable. I can’t wait for people to see what I have planned.”

The roster of artists selected for the first volume includes:

• Jason Adams
• Ted Dastick
• Alex Deligiannis
• Charles Hall
• Dan Duncan
• Dan Harding
• Gary Kezele
• Miran Kim
• Apricot Mantle
• Chris Mason
• John McCrea
• Nar!
• Sean Pence
• Tim Proctor
• Eric Talbot
• Chris Uminga
• George Webber
• Jeff Zapata

The book will be released in both Red and Blue Label offerings, with each edition being signed by the creative team of John Layman and John McCrea, housed in a custom-built tray case and paired with hand-drawn cards. Red Label books (250 total) will include one sketch card, while each Blue Label edition (50 total) will be packaged with a four-card puzzle-set.

• Available for pre-order now, get your copy: http://idwlimited.com/series/mars-attacks.html

MARS ATTACKS: ATTACK FROM SPACE DELUXE LIMITED EDITION (RED-$125.00; BLUE-$400; 124 pages; 11” x 7.3”; hardcover)

• About the Author
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John Freeman

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.

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Tags: Comic Publishers - US, IDW, John McCrea, Mars Attacks