RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books JACK KIRBY: A tribute to the King...

Say what you will about his art,but the man knew his tiaras.

I just heard yesterday about a new Kirby hardcover:

• Kirby Fourth World omnibus hardcover

Except for KAMANDI (of which the first 20 issues are also out in hardcover, vols 1 and 2 so far), Kirby's Fourth World series is my favorite.
And Kirby's Fourth World is unquestionably his most ambitious.

Certainly worthy of, and long overdue for, collection in a hardcover edition.

Although it seems dumb to me to release them individually across 4 volumes, each only a part of the whole. It would be more logical to make them a boxed set, complete.

kirby sucks balls

Wonder Boy content User a man's signature quote is inversely proportionate to his cock size
4000+ posts 1 minute 35 seconds ago Reading a post
Forum: Comic Books
Thread: JACK KIRBY: A tribute to the King...
Holden McGroin innocent User master of the red x
3000+ posts 4 minutes 28 seconds ago Logging out

couldn't figure our what ID to toss off to Kirby with?

Wow, you guys are so obsessed with my posts that you followed me into the comics forum to attack me. In this case, a topic I didn't even post to, just LOOKED at.

You're totally gay over anything I post.

It's embarassing, that my posts have become such an integral part of your lives.

Gay!

See ?

KIRBY FUCKER!

Yes, I see a gay!
Everytime you post in fact!

Kirby tiara obsessor !!

Says the guy who's obsessed with cock.

Yep, you certainly are.

his dream is to see a jack kirby animated cock.

Bravo! Bravo!

Wonderful, just wonderful!!!

How would you know? You're not even facing the screen.

Why did you have to tell me? I was having such a good time.

I was looking for Kirby original art, and I stumbled on this page, in tribute to Kirby's JIMMY OLSEN run:

https://ifanboy.com/articles/top-5-awesome-things-about-jack-kirbys-jimmy-olsen-comics/



This is my favorite run of Kirby's, at least of his Fourth World books, for a number of reasons. I think it was the most interesting version of SUPERMAN at the time, even superior to Dennis O'Neil's efforts (although O'Neil's SUPERMAN 233 --also reprinted recently as a Millenium Edition-- got off to a good start, but was less satisfying in the issues after.)

I loved the huge ensemble cast in Kirby's 15-issue JIMMY OLSEN run.
And the offbeat humor.
And the explosion of new worlds and new characters introduced.
And The Project genetic research facility.
And the Anderson-inked heads of Superman and Jimmy Olsen, that contrasted the Colletta background inks in an interesting way, but also gave visual continuity with the other Swan/Anderson-illustrated SUPERMAN and ACTION titles, despite their vastly different storylines.


The double-page Transilvane image is from issue 143, the second of a two-part story, which introduced Dabney Donavan, and his creation: a Creature-Feature-culture planet, Bloodmoor, nestled in the crypt of a cemetary. Great Halloween reading, and as exciting as any other issue of Kirby's OLSEN run.

Glad I'm not the only one who savors these issues.

L'Officier and Ladronn did a great sequel to this in a two-part LEGENDS OF THE DC UNIVERSE 22 and 23 story in 2000.

https://www.hollywoodcomics.com/transilv.htm

Currently reading the TPB re-prints of his Jimmy Olsen run, and have recently finished the first Masterworks volume of The Mighty Thor.

jack kirby sucks.

Kirby's JIMMY OLSEN series remains among my favorites, and it's great to read them in these two collected volumes.



I already have all the Kirby JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY/THOR issues, so I don't have an urgency to pick up the Masterworks volumes of it. I always plannned to do that at some point after the complete Kirby run is all in hardcover, so that buying in hardcovers allows one to read the whole series in that format.

Marvel in the last few years has also reprinted Kirby's complete 1976-1978 runs of ETERNALS, CAPTAIN AMERICA, and BLACK PANTHER, in inexpensive full-color trade paperback.
There's an ETERNALS omnibus hardcover as well.
And DEVIL DINOSAUR hardcover.
Only the 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY Treasury Edition and series 1-10 are not reprinted. And MACHINE MAN 1-9.

Some of the Masterworks reprints I've been most eager to see have been of the early issues of TALES TO ASTONISH (3 volumes so far, issues 1-30), TALES OF SUSPENSE (2 volumes so far, issues 1-20).
And JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY that started with material from the early 50's and hasn't gotten to the Kirby/Ditko stuff yet that began with issue 51.

AMAZING ADVENTURES/AMAZING FANTASY also was released in an AMAZING FANTASY omnibus hardcover.

And I guess they'll eventually get to Kirby's STRANGE TALES stories as well.
All these (AMAZING ADVENTURES/AMAZING FANTASY, JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY, STRANGE TALES, TALES OF SUSPENSE, TALES TO ASTONISH) are Kirby's pre-Marvel monster story reprints, originally published from 1959-1963.

Kirby's RAWHIDE KID stories from the same pre-Marvel era have also been re-released in two RAWHIDE KID Masterworks editions. I've seen only the first volume.

Kack Kirby was a communist!

glen beck told me so.

DEVIL DINOSAUR was also released in a collected hardcover in 2007.

In addition to Marvel's other late-70's Kirby material already in book form:

ETERNALS hardcover (also released in 2 trades)
CAPTAIN AMERICA 193-214, ANNUAL 3 and 4, and BICENTENNIAL BATTLES treasury (reprinted in a series of 3 trades)
and
BLACK PANTHER 1-9 (in 2 trade volumes)

So the only material from Kirby's 1976-1978 return to Marvel not collected in book form are his 2001:A SPACE ODYSSEY treasury-size movie adaptation, his 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY 10-issue series, MACHINE MAN 1-9, a few scattered covers, and a single-issue story he did in WHAT IF 11.

On the DC side, Kirby's JIMMY OLSEN, FOREVER PEOPLE, NEW GODS, MISTER MIRACLE, THE DEMON, KAMANDI, O.M.A.C., OUR FIGHTING FORCES 151-162 (THE LOSERS), SPIRIT WORLD, DAYS OF THE MOB, FIRST ISSUE SPECIAL 1, 5 and 6, SANDMAN, KOBRA 1, and RICHARD DRAGON 3 are all now in book form.

Virtually everything from Kirby's 1970-1975 DC canon of work.
With the single exception of JUSTICE INC, which may have been excluded for character copyright reasons.

I killed Jack Kirby for being a shitty artist.

Did you strangle him with his own Jack Kirby pajamas?

Its how Dave Cockrum would have wanted it.

Nice find.
To see the artist himself preserved on video, and see his work habits as he draws.




This is pretty cool: A set of rejected Kirby covers from his DC years (1970-1975).

http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/558/


I guess they'd originally considered introducing the New Gods in a SHOWCASE issue.

The others, such as the two of the three rejected JIMMY OLSEN covers, were later used in reprint editions. They were previously reprinted in other books, such as the JACK KIRBY:MASTERWORKS book (1978).

Although this set of unused Kirby DC covers is not complete. There's also one (not included in this article) for a proposed DC Limited Collectors' Edition tabloid giant that would have concluded the Orion vs. Darkseid "Final Battle" of the New Gods.

https://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/dynamics/2012/07/01/6408/



Which was finally done by Kirby in a vastly different form in the 1985 graphic novel HUNGER DOGS. Which for my money is the absolute worst thing Kirby has ever done. Would that Kirby could have concluded the series in 1972, while still in his prime.

There are several complete stories by Kirby from that period that went unpublished, such as two complete issues of DINGBATS OF DANGER STREET (intended to continue after FIRST ISSUE SPECIAL 6) that probably have covers as well.
And "The Seal-Men's war on Santa Claus", that would have been SANDMAN 7, and also was slated for KAMANDI 61 (which was cancelled in the DC Implosion in 1978 with issue 59), but only was published as Xeroxes in CANCELLED COMICS CAVALCADE.
In the mid 1980's it finally saw print in color in a BEST OF DC digest 22 (March 1982).
And Just a few months ago in JACK KIRBY OMNIBUS VOLUME 2.


Here's also a collection of all Kirby's DC house ads (along with a few playful photoshops at the end.)
http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/557

http://secretsun.blogspot.com/2009/03/astrognostic-jacob-wrestles-angels.html



This is a blog that argues Kirby was a true believer in the notion that humans were seeded on earth by aliens, in a "Chariots of the Gods" mindset. While Kirby certainly used that as a basis for many of his stories, exploiting a popular trend in the 1970's era, I don't buy that Kirby was ascribed to that belief. Any more than he was to elements in the post-apocalyptic world of KAMANDI, or the magic in his portrayal of THE DEMON.

This blog also presents the idea that Kirby is influential on global popular culture and Hollywood films, way beyond just the comics world, that many (if not most) of the most influential Hollywood directors grew up reading Kirby comics of the 1960's-1970's. While it's interesting that many of them did read Kirby's stories (and in Lucas' case he may or may not have swiped the Luke Skywalker/Darth Vader relationship from Kirby's Orion/Darkseid relationship) as much as I love Kirby, I'm not really buying the above argument.

Yeah, "This Man, This Monster" from FANTASTIC FOUR 51 is pretty widely agreed on as the single best issue of the series, an outstanding story by Stan Lee, and among the best issues by Kirby as well. If not the single best work by both. It came on the end of a wave of creativity that gave us the Inhumans and Attalan (FF 44-47), the Silver Surfer and Galactus (FF 48-50), then this great one-shot issue, then the Black Panther and Wakanda (FF 52-53), then a riproaring battle between the Thing and the Surfer in FF 55, then an epic battle between the FF and Dr. Doom (FF 56-60), then Blastar and the Negative Zone (FF 61-63), the Kree Sentinel (FF 64-65), then "Him" who later reached new heights in Starlin's WARLOCK series (FF 66-67).

Anyone who reads these and still tries to argue that Kirby is a talentless hack... these issues are the ones that defined Marvel!

In 1989, one day after work I went by Tropic Comics in Fort Lauderdale, and they had just purchased the originals of Kirby's FF 51 pages. What a treat that was, to see the original title page for "This Man, This Monster". They had already negotiated to sell that single page alone to a guy for $6,000 !

It makes my head spin to imagine what that page must be worth now, at a time when copies of ACTION COMICS # 1, and DETECTIVE 27 now sell for well upwards of $1 million each. I was talking to a local comics shop dealer a week ago, that I thought there would be a ceiling reached on what these originals would sell for. He said he thought so too. But we were both wrong, there's no limit in sight.

Kirby's birthday is August 28, 1917. If still alive, he'd now be 98 years old.

Stan Lee's up there too, still alive and kicking at 92!
And still very active too, in new projects and attending conventions.

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.

If Kirby were still alive he would be celebrating his 99th birthday today.

Even with him 22 years gone, his legacy and a continuous stream of new editions of his work are still unfolding.