Marvel Masterworks Up Close: A Look At Clover Press Exclusive Trade Dress

For those excited about the upcoming release of four new Marvel Masterworks volumes (including myself!!), the Kickstarter is soon to be live (for those growing impatient and just want their MMWs!!) The first four volumes include Marvel Masterworks: Super-Villain Team-Up Vol. 1, Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 25, Marvel Masterworks: The Tomb of Dracula Vol. 6 and Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men Vol. 18, a great assortment of titles for the first salvo. These will all be available in the regular and variant marble edition we’ve know for over two decades now.

There will be a third new trade dress, however; one exclusive to Clover Press and its Kickstarter initiative and I thought it worth giving an up close look at the design, which is a big departure from the more austere look of the classic Masterworks cover treatment.

The graphic design of the covers shows a dominant image on the top and bottom of separate key characters from the story narrative in the issues collected, plus an interior grid that shares the book title (with the logo of the then-current series), top line creator credits and another character image to offset that. The spine design is also reliant on setting text inside a clearly articulated grid pattern.

This sets up an interesting little parlor game for us Masterworks loyalists: Who makes the cut in the Clover Press variant design? I would have guessed Red Skull would have been given a shot at the front cover but dark horse candidate Magneto slipped in there instead! The X-Men one gives prime time shots to Storm, Wolverine and, making his first appearance in the stories inside, Gambit! Meanwhile, I find it incredibly gratifying that Thor Frog gets the spotlight over any depiction of the Odinson. The most worthy frog in the multiverse!

The back cover design has yet to be revealed, and I am not sure if these are the final cover designs or not. Perhaps there may be some tweaks before the official unveiling. We shall see!

I’d also like to share the variant marble cover treatments including the spine, since a lot of folks treasure the look of those in their full glory.

Don’t those look fantastic?! In fact, they will look amazing on my shelf! Kickstarter, come on!

Finally, I’d like to share the promotional copy from the most recent email sent out by Clover Press, with word from none other than Cory Sedlmeier on what to expect when we finally get that live Kickstarter in front of us:

The publication of the first wave of books marks just the first stage of Clover Press’ publishing plan to continue the historic Marvel Masterworks program, with an ambitious, ongoing schedule that will bring dozens of new editions of Marvel Masterworks series to print. Longtime Marvel series editor Cory Sedlmeier will continue in his role as editor and series steward, continuing the role that he’s served at Marvel for more than two decades.

“Each Masterworks volume has a completely new restoration that outshines all past editions,” said series editor Cory Sedlmeier. “More than 40% of the final issue of Tomb of Dracula—an issue that suffered from poor reproduction in all past printings, including the original comic—has been restored from original art; dozens of pages of Jim Lee X-Men have been restored from the originals; and over 200 pages of Walter Simonson’s Thor have been restored from original art scans that Walter did just for this Masterworks. Coupled with the highest fidelity reproduction ever at 1200dpi and meticulous color restoration, the new line of Masterworks is going to knock the socks off readers old and new alike.”

That’s it for now! More news as it comes!