Nicolas Delort Does The UNIVERSAL MONSTERS

Frequent Birth.Movies.Death. readers already know that Nicolas Delort is one of our favorite working poster artists (I know I've talked up his fantastic work on a number of occasions). Every new print this dude releases blows us away, and it only seems like he gets better with each outing. He's worked with our friends at Mondo, with Black Dragon Press, with Hero Complex Gallery, and - for last year's Charlie Brown series - the good folks at Dark Hall Mansion, and every last one of his posters has been worth buying.

Today, Dark Hall Mansion announced that they'd completed work on a brand-new series with Delort, and it's...well, it's absolutely fantastic. This is the Universal Classic Monsters series, and I'll let the images speak for themselves:

Creature From The Black Lagoon by Nicolas Delort

Regular / Variant

Bride Of Frankenstein by Nicolas Delort

Regular / Variant

Frankenstein by Nicolas Delort

Regular / Variant

Dracula by Nicolas Delort

Regular / Variant

The Invisible Man by Nicolas Delort

Regular / Variant 

The Wolfman by Nicolas Delort

Regular / Variant

The Mummy by Nicolas Delort

Regular / Variant

Incredible, right? There's so much to love here, up to and including the fact that Dark Hall Mansion's releasing the entire thing as a complete set, rather than launching a series and leaving fans wondering when it might be completed (note: this makes framing easier on everybody). This is what happens when you arrange the perfect marriage of artist and property: balls-out perfection. My hat is off to everyone involved.

Now. You're probably wondering how you can go about scoring one of these sets. Here's how Dark Hall's selling the Universal Classic Monster series (deep breath):

Nicolas Delort's Universal Classic Monsters Series

7-print Standard edition of 295: $350
7-print Variant edition  of 125: $450
7-print Select Foil edition of 10 (based on Std edition colorway): $575
7-print Select Foil edition of 10 (based on Variant edition colorway): $575
7-print Select Wood edition of 10 (based on Standard edition colorway): $1250

There's no getting around the fact that these sets cost a pretty penny, but honestly: this feels worth it to me. You get everything all at once (no waiting for the series to finish!), and there's a fairly wide range of price points here: if you've got a bunch of scratch to throw around, you can opt for one of the top-shelf variant sets (whoever scores one of those all-wood sets is a friggin' baller), and if money's tight you can pick up the entire set for under $400, which is a steal considering what the cost'd be were you to have these shipped to you one at a time. Again, yes: pricey. But the collector in me says it's worth it.

Think you're gonna take the plunge? Be ready on Tuesday, October 13th. That's when these will go on sale via the Dark Hall Mansion website. Here's some further information from the DHM press release:

Each individual print in DHM's Nicolas Delort 7-print set measures 18" x 24," is hand numbered, and screen printed. The Standard edition set is printed per Nicolas' hand crafted B&W approach while his Variant's hue is richly toned and deliberately vintage in feel. There is also a very limited foil edition based on either the Standard or Variant colorway, plus the most select series, only 10 editions, a complete run of all 7 of Nicolas's "Universal Classic Monsters" pieces individually screened on wood.

You can expect these to sell out, but I'm thinking the price point will keep them from being an insta-sellout. I wouldn't dawdle on Tuesday once they go live (I'd keep my eye trained to the Dark Hall Mansion Twitter feed to find out precisely when they've gone on sale), but I also wouldn't be living in a state of hysterical anxiety if you're going after one of the higher-priced sets. In any event, this is a fantastic series and I wish nothing but good luck to everyone picking one up. I'd snag my own if I weren't financially devastated in the wake of Fantastic Fest/MondoCon. 

If you're wondering: the Creature From The Black Lagoon is my absolute favorite of this series (of course it is), but honestly, I don't think there's a weak spot in the bunch. Which one do you guys like most?