Some recent purchases of mine include the hardcover reprints (both out in 2013) of DAYS IN THE MOB and SPIRIT WORLD magazines by Kirby.

Both were published in magazine form in August 1971. Both had a single issue published. Both had a complete 2nd issue produced by Kirby. But in both cases the second issue was never published.

In the case of SPIRIT WORLD 2, the 50 pages of stories and articles were published in color in DC's mystery titles in 1972, in WEIRD MYSTERY 1, 2 and 3, and in FORBIDDEN TALES OF DARK MANSION 6.

In the case of DAYS IN THE MOB 2, until this book came out, only 10 pages were published (in AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS 1), and virtually all appears in print for the first time.

I also picked up the STRANGE WORLD OF YOUR DREAMS hardcover of Simon and Kirby work from 1951-1953, which although less fluid in its storytelling has nice S & K art, and is similar in theme to SPIRIT WORLD, with a pseudo-scientist host character telling stories of supernatural visions in dreams, and interpreting the symbolism in the dreams, what they manifest in the psychology of the dreamer. The covers in particular for this series are very striking. The stories (as in the EC comics tradition) are text-heavy and a bit dry for those used to current storytelling.


I love DAYS IN THE MOB, which although ostensibly about mobsters of the 1920's and 1930's, also has a supernatural element to it. The host character is "Warden Fry" in a special wing of Hell reserved for gangland felons. And framed in circles of flames, he introduces the characters of each story, and tells their murderous exploits that sent them each to Hell. Wild stuff!

Virtually Kirby's entire 1970's DC output is out in hardcover or paperback, some of them in multiple editions. JIMMY OLSEN, FOREVER PEOPLE, NEW GODS, MISTER MIRACLE, DAYS OF THE MOB, SPIRIT WORLD, THE DEMON, KAMANDI, OMAC, THE LOSERS, RICHARD DRAGON 3, FIRST ISSUE SPECIAL 1, 5 and 6, SANDMAN. For some reason, only Kirby's JUSTICE INC 2-4 were not reprinted.

Likewise, virtually all of Kirby's 1976-1978 work for Marvel has been reprinted: CAPTAIN AMERICA 193-216 (plus CAPT AMERICA Treasuries and annuals stories), ETERNALS, BLACK PANTHER, MACHINE MAN and DEVIL DINOSAUR. (Only Kirby's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY treasury movie adaptation, and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY 1-10 have not been reprinted.)

And of course, Kirby's entire 1960's Marvel output is available in MARVEL MASTERWORKS hardcovers and inexpensive trade editions, most in countless reprintings over the last 20 years.




Some others I love and completed my run of are the pre-Marvel "Atlas-era" MARVEL MASTERWORKS reprints TALES TO ASTONISH volumes 1-3, and TALES OF SUSPENSE 1-3.

They also published AMAZING ADVENTURES 1-6/AMAZING ADULT FANTASY 7-14/ AMAZING FANTASY 15 in a single omnibus hardcover, that I have't purchased yet. Except for the first 6 issues by Kirby, that pre-Marvel title is mostly a Steve Ditko tour-de-force.

Frustratingly, Kirby's other pre-Marvel "Atlas Era" monster stories in JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY and STRANGE TALES have not been reprinted yet. Those two series began in the early 1950's and ran about 60 issues before Kirby and Ditko began working in them, and they began with these early pre-Kirby stories, and will have to get up to around volume 6 of each before Kirby material will be reprinted.

Kirby's RAWHIDE KID as well is out in MASTERWORKS editions (2 volumes).

The only stuff not reprinted from that 1958-1963 period by Kirby are his war and romance stories from Marvel. And given the narrow audience for these, though just as good as his other work from what I've sampled, those may be a long time coming.

And needless to say, Kirby's Golden Age material on CAPTAIN AMERICA, SANDMAN, NEWSBOY LEGION, and BOY COMMANDOS are also available in hardcover editions. MANHUNTER for some reason is not.

The era of Kirby's work (and other comics of the same era) that is an exciting era to explore for me is the work of the late 1940's and early/mid 1950's, because they are the least written-about and least reprinted, and arguably the most forgotten. But as I said, many of those are also available now in new hardcover editions, such as the aforementioned STRANGE WORLD OF YOUR DREAMS, BOYS RANCH, and FIGHTING AMERICAN.
From this early era, Greg Theakston with his company Pure Imagination has made an effort to publish every Kirby story from his earliest work in inexpensive black-and-white phone-book type editions, in his series THE COMPLETE JACK KIRBY. So much that was not available in nicer editions is at least available through him in this format.

I also completed my run of Gilberton's WORLD AROUND US series (from 1958-1961), all 36 issues. Kirby did roughly 10 to 20 pages each in issues 31-36. Kirby describes in interviews that it was unpleasant work for him, and smothering the level of editorial control over the stories he did for them. But still interesting to see this very different period-history work from Kirby, on Native Americans, European explorers, and so forth. These issues also have nice work by Sam Glanzman, Gerald McCann, Gray Morrow, and other forgotten talents of that era.

Likewise, I've purchased many other Golden-Age and Pre-Code runs, some in book form, some scanned and distributed inexpensively (and unofficially) on DVD. This has the advantage of taking up very little space, and giving you the complete issues (every page scanned, including the ads) and is therefore the next best thing to having the original issues, that is otherwise reformatted and often re-colored in reprinted book editions. For much of the 1940's and 1950's material that is not popular enough to warrant a book reprinting, this is a format it is at least available to read.