I’ll Be Back: Dark Horse Reprinting Miller’s And Simonson’s Robocop Vs. Terminator

We’ve talked a lot about Robocop in the past week or so thanks to the rebooted movie version and the associated kinda crappy comics. However, Robocop has long been a subject here; literally in our first week of publication, I wrote a short review of Dynamite Comics’s Terminator / Robocop: Kill Human #2, where I bemoaned writer Rob Williams’s decision to have Robocop scream, “You motherfuckers!” (Shut your mouth! I’m just talking ’bout Robocop…), and pined for the 1992 Dark Horse Comics miniseries Robocop Vs. Terminator, which was written by Frank Miller, drawn by Walt Simonson, and never, ever reprinted.

Well, it seems that all this current excitement about the Robocop reboot (likely to be followed by disappointment, ambivalence, and eventually denial) has lit a fire under Dark Horse, because they have announced that they are finally reprinting the series. And not just in a quickie cash-grab trade paperback version (although as I recall, the story was good enough that even that would be worth your time and money), but in a recolored hardcover edition.

And if that isn’t enough to make you want to shout, “Shut up and take my money!” (which is still closer to authentic Robocop dialogue than Williams wrote in Terminator / Robocop: Kill Human, but that’s not the point), Dark Horse will also be releasing a “gallery edition” of the book, featuring Simonson’s original, uncolored line art.

So the basic hardcover will feature recolored art by Steve Oliff and a new introduction by Steven Grant, who adapted Miller’s Robocop 2 and Robocop 3 series into comic series for Boom Studios and Avatar Comics, respectively. And what, exactly, is a “gallery edition?”

The super deluxe RoboCop verus The Terminator Gallery Edition ushers in Dark Horse’s new gallery series format—reprinting Walter Simonson’s original art at full size, exactly as it appeared on his drawing table! Relive Simonson and writer Frank Miller’s seamless blend of the RoboCop and Terminator worlds while marveling at the sheer virtuosity of Simonson’s draftsmanship in all its original glory.

In addition to the full story, the gallery edition provides the greatest insight available into Simonson’s process, with pages of his original pencils and promotional art faithfully reproduced, along with a revealing foreword by the artist himself!

So basically, think along the lines of IDW Publishing’s Artist’s Editions, which are big, oversized, beautiful books that really show off the pencils and the inks. And being big and oversized, you pay for it: the gallery edition of Robocop Vs. Terminator will be $125, while the standard hardcover will be $25.

Seriously, though: it has been a while since I’ve read Robocop Vs. Terminator. I have the original issues, and I am in the process of cataloging my collection (I’m up to about 5,000 books, with something like 30 more longboxes to go)… and the instant I find those books, the cataloging stops until I can finish rereading the series. In my memory, it’s that good. So do what I’m gonna do, which is place an advance order at my local comic store, where they know me by name and tell me that I need my clothes, my boots, and my motorcycle… or at least I need someone’s clothes and boots.

The deluxe hardcover of Robocop Vs. Terminator will drop on July 2, 2014, and the gallery edition will be released the following week on July 9.