John Paul Leon tribute project The WInter Men - Artist's Edition adds Peach Momoko

The Winter Men: Artist's Edition print (Image credit: Peach Momoko)

One of the most arduous projects in the late John Paul Leon's career was the creator-owned series The Winter Men. It took six years for the six-issue series to be published by DC, and it quickly went out of print. But now, just months after Leon's death an all-new expansive edition of the project is coming together in his memory.

The Winter Men: Artist's Edition cover (Image credit: John Paul Leon)

Friends of Leon are organizing The Winter Men: Artist's Edition, which will include all 184 pages of Leon and co-writer Brett Lewis' story, printed in the actual size it was drawn - 12" x 17". In addition, Leon's family has shared never-before-seen Winter Men concept art, layouts, sketches, and even alternate versions of some pages.

And similar to the Batman/Catwoman Special #1, some of Leon's colleagues are stepping up to contribute new art prints for The Winter Men: Artist's Edition in tribute to the late artist. To date, the artist contributing pinups include Bill Sienkiewicz, Lee Weeks, Duncan Fegredo, Sean Phillips, Kim Jung Gi, Denys Cowan, Walter Simonson, Joe Quesada, and announcing now, Peach Momoko.

The Winter Men: Artist's Edition is being organized by Leon's Blvd studio partners Tommy Lee Edwards and Bernard Chang, along with former DC editor Scott Dunbier, who originally commissioned The Winter Men from Leon and Lewis and now runs IDW Publishing's Artist's Edition program.

The Winter Men is set in the waning days of the Cold War, as Russian man named Kris Kalenov attempts to come to grips with being a survivor of the Soviet Union's superhero program and being cast off by his government and by the political changes underway.

The organizers of The Winter Men: Artist's Edition are currently raising funds (and taking pre-orders) for The Winter Men: Artist's Edition through Zoop, and have already amassed double their initial $35,000 goal. As of now, The Winter Men: Artist's Edition will be exclusive to this Zoop fundraising campaign, with an expected 2022 ship date.

All proceeds from The Winter Men: Artist's Edition will be given to his wife and daughter.

If you enjoy his work, make sure you read out expansive interview with John Paul Leon about his final works and his cancer battle.

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)