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Comics are fine art. Although they are mass-produced, shrunk, stretched, colored and sometimes co-opted, at its core it's fine art. And art dealer-turned-publisher Scott Dunbier has been re-emphasizing the art of sequential art for decades now, first with Wildstorm, then DC, then IDW Publishing, and now with his own company, Act 4 Publishing. Along the way, Dunbier has innovated a format known as the 'Artist's Edition' which reprints the original art to some of the world's most revered comics at their actual size, smudges, tears, happy accidents and all, photographed from the original art. 

Dunbier has been doing Artist's Editions for going on 16 years now, but there remain four white whales (to borrow a term from Moby Dick) he is still chasing. And now that he's said it aloud, I almost want to join him on his metaphorical Pequod.

"I would love to do something with Richard Corben’s work. He felt that his work would not hold up to the format, which I think is crazy," Dunbier tells The Comics Journal's Zach Rabiroff. "I would really love to do something with Richard Corben. I have something in mind that hopefully, knock wood, will happen someday. I would love to do something with some manga, especially [Katsuhiro] Otomo’s work. I'd love to do an Akira Artist's Edition."

As a refresher:

• Richard Corben, artist/writer best known for his series Den, as well as his many contributions to the magazine Heavy Metal
• Katsuhiro Otomo, one of the most influential storytellers in modern fiction with Akira

Going further, Dunbier reveals that he also attempted to do an Artist's Edition of the late Moebius' work, but was again shot down.

"I tried to do a Moebius Artist's Edition a number of years ago, and unfortunately the family just wasn't interested, which is a tragedy," says Dunbier. "I mean, Moebius in that format — I mean, Moebius! And I would love to do a Tintin book. I tried to reach out to the Hergé estate, but they never got back to me."

Besides the immense contributions Hergé's Tintin comics made to the comics medium, it's also personal for Dunbier as its the first comics he ever read.

"But those were the first comics I read as a kid. My mom read them to me when I was three or four, and then I read them on my own. That was my introduction to comics."

Somehow, I hope some of these 'no' answers are 'not yet' answers, in disguise.

Get ready for what's next with our list to upcoming comics and how to buy comics at a comic shop, and our guide to all the free comics you can get with this year's Free Comic Book Day and Comics Giveaway Day.