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

Didja see what Mark Waid did in FF today?

No..what DID Mark Waid do
in the Fantastic Four today???

I don't know the issue won't be out for a while.

It came out today. Don't say anything without a "SPOILER" note as I haven't read it yet...

Just read FF #511.

Wow. Just...wow.

Upon reading parts 1 & 2 of the storyline, I was thinking "There's no way Waid can do anything with this other than make it imaginary or a dream or the psyche of some villain. I'm gonna walk away from this storyline having enjoyed it, but not nearly as much as I could. The ending can't help but be at least a little disappointing..."

There are moments that I do truly enjoy being wrong. Sentimental? Yup. Sappy? I'd say so.

But a perfect ending? Oh yeah. I'm gonna hafta admit it: I walked away from the book very pleased. No disappointment here. 'Matter of fact, it pushed me to pick up either the Essential or Masterwork editions of FF.

Good stuff...

Okay, I won't spoil it, but if you are a Jack Kirby fan, you'll appreciate the homage that Mark Waid pays Jack in here. He treats Jack like a GOD in this issue. It's a must read.

( From DAREDEVIL 233, August 1986, by Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli, accompanying the story credits on page 1: )



"This issue respectfully dedicated to Jack Kirby"





The issue guest-stars Captain America, and the character is drawn in a very Kirby-esque 1964-1965-era Captain America style.

~

In listing all these dedications to Kirby, you can quickly see that they're dedicated by pretty much ALL of the major talents working in the comics field in the 1980's. All making clear their tribute, and love, for Kirby's work.

And no doubt, there are many other similar dedications I've missed.

Although as I've said, a vast percentage of ongoing Marvel and DC characters and series over the last 60 years are in themselves a tribute to Kirby's work.

~

Beardguy57, I like your vision of Kirby in the afterlife interacting with French impressionists and Rennaissance artists.
I don't know how much Kirby was into high art, but it's clear that he loved to draw, first in animation for Max Fleischer in the 1930's, and some newspaper strip work, before moving into a long career in comics. And Kirby considered himself very fortunate to spend a lifetime doing what he loved.
And who can ask for more than that?

~

Here's a link to some humorous anecdotes of Kirby, by some creators who knew Jack Kirby well, including Jim Steranko, and Scott Shaw.

http://www.twomorrows.com/kirby/articles/10storys.html

I especially enjoyed this recollection:





--------------------


"This Man, This Wonder Boy..."

Here's another great tribute to Kirby's early Marvel / pre-Marvel monster stories and FF run.



http://fullsize.347.GIF
http://fullsize.348.GIF
http://fullsize.349.GIF



FF 347-349.

Story by Walt Simonson, art by Arthur Adams and Gracine Tanaka, and inks by Art Thibert

These three issues are tremendous fun, with a holy host of monsters who hadn't seen the light of day in about 30 years, until their cameo appearances in this three-part story.

The story centers on the Mole Man and his Monster Island, with the creature from FF # 1(Nov 1961), along with cameo appearances of other monsters from these pre-Marvel stories:

• "Van Doom, The Man Who Created a Creature" in TALES TO ASTONISH 17(March 1961),
• "What was X, the Thing That Lived?" from TALES TO ASTONISH 20 (June 1961),
  and
• "Titan" from TALES OF SUSPENSE 28 (April 1962),

as well as several others I can't name offhand.

Also great was inclusion of the Skrulls, who took on the role of pre-Marvel brand bug-eyed alien invaders.
In a funny scene, instead of the bug-eyed Skrulls terrifying local Earth people, the Skrulls themselves have the crap scared out of them by the monsters on Monster Island. Some of the facial expressions of the Skrulls are priceless.

Simonson's inclusion of a recently-gray-again Hulk worked well in the early-Marvel/pre-Marvel feel of the story too, since Hulk was gray in his earliest 1962 appearances. Although Simonson isn't the one who made the change back to gray (it was Peter David and Todd McFarlane who turned Hulk gray again in INCREDIBLE HULK issues 330-344, if I recall, and Simonson just continued the gray Hulk for his appearances in FF)

Around the same time, Marvel released a collected trade titled MONSTER MASTERWORKS, that reprinted 18 of the pre-Marvel monster stories from the 1958-1963 pre-Marvel era. "Van Doom", "X, the Thing That Lived" and "Titan" are all reprinted in this volume, which came out within a few months of the Simonson/Adams/Thibert FF story, in 1990.

FF 347-349 were collected with nicer printing in THE NEW FANTASTIC FOUR: MONSTERS UNLEASHED trade paperback, in 1992.

And reprinted again in the recent X-MEN LEGENDS, VOL. 3: ARTHUR ADAMS trade paperback, collecting these FF issues along with all the X-Men annuals Arthur Adams did.

Highly recommended.

Simonson also did a number of FF issues where he did both story and pencils ( FF issues 337-341, 343-346, 350), that I think rank with Byrne's FF run, as the best FF since the Lee/Kirby run. These and Art Adams's story in 347-349 were collected again in the FANTASTIC FOUR VISIONARIES: SIMONSON trade collection.

Which complements Simonson's other outstanding tribute to Kirby's run in THOR (in issues 337-380).

--------------------


"This Man, This Wonder Boy..."

Excellent job with the Kirby info, Dave. Y'know, as a kid back in the 70's I really didn't appreciate his work (I was more of an Adams/Dillin/Swan/Aparo guy), but going into my teens I started to warm up to the King.

One thing about Dillin, though... he actually had a long and sizable career before his JLA days, illustrating the adventures of the Blackhawks from their Quality days up into their DC run. According to Amazing World of DC Comics #11, he actually got his start in Wing Comics for Williams in 1951.

Thanks for the praise Casselmm.

And for the correction about Dick Dillin as well. I'd initially thought Irv Novick entered comics in the late 60's as well, and later learned he's been doing comics since the 1940's.
Live and learn.

I'll look up that article you list, from AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS #11.

~


Another Kirby collaborator I've wanted to mention (whose reputation is as god-like in the comics industry as Kirby's own) is Steve Ditko.

I love the work they collaborated on together, in the 1958-1963 issues of JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY, STRANGE TALES, TALES TO ASTONISH, TALES OF SUSPENSE, and scattered other covers and stories, including FF # 13 (introducing the Watcher and the Blue Area of the moon, that Byrne later re-drew from the Kirby/Ditko FF issue, in X-MEN 137)

Here's the main page for an outstanding Ditko website, the best I've seen for any comic book artist:

http://www.ditko.comics.org/

From the above site, here's an extremely rare photo of Steve Ditko.
I'd never seen a photo of Ditko, until the internet made one available. Ditko is extremely reclusive, and doesn't make himself available for fan press interviews.




And here's the section I appreciate the most:
An extraordinarily detailed checklist of Ditko's work.

You can look up stuff 3 different ways in this checklist:
1) alphabetically,
2) chronologically,
or
3) by specific publisher.

An amazing amount of work and user-friendliness went into this checklist. (A list like this should exist for Kirby ! )

http://www.ditko.comics.org/ditko/check/ditkoch.html





And finally, here's one of my favorite Kirby pencils /Ditko inks collaborations, the cover to STRANGE TALES # 80 (January 1961):





http://fullsize.80.JPG



And of course, the most famous Kirby/Ditko cover collaboration:


( fullsize image at: )
http://fullsize.15.GIF



---------------------


"This Man, This Wonder Boy..."

Kirby is solely responsible for making me love comics.
I was about 6 at the time I read Marvel Treasury #11..the Fantastic Four. "This Man, This Monster" made me realize the power comics had....even at that young age. I didn't fully understand the story, but I did get the redemption and sacrifice angles, and that a hero comes from the unlikeliest of places.

Nowhereman, check out Kirby's 1970's Black Panther run. If you don't like that you may never like Kirby.

I enjoyed those issues too, Pig Iron. My favorite Jack Kirby Black Panther stories, though, are his first two appearances in FANTASTIC FOUR 52 and 53, back in 1966.


( larger images of these two covers)
http://fullsize.52.GIF
http://fullsize.53.GIF

And if you like those late 1970's BLACK PANTHER issues, you'd definitely enjoy what Jose Ladronn did in CABLE 48-67, that have a very strong 70's Kirby flavor to the art.
I especially enjoyed issue 54, which features the Black Panther.


( larger full-size image of this cover: )
http://fullsize.54.GIF



~


One of my favorite Kirby collaborations occurred in JIMMY OLSEN, the first series Kirby did for DC ( issues 133-139, 141-148) from 1970-1972, immediately after leaving Marvel.

[image]http://www.milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=fullsize&issue=45526284144%20138[/image]




The covers on Jimmy Olsen offer a rare one-time collaboration between Jack Kirby and Neal Adams !



(link to clearer full-size image:
http://fullsize.138.GIF )

Kirby pencils, and Neal Adams inks, on this (issue 138)
and these other covers:





(links to larger/clearer images of these covers: )
http://fullsize.137.GIF
http://fullsize.141.GIF
http://fullsize.142.GIF
http://fullsize.144.GIF




These other covers are Neal Adams pencils and inks, without Kirby:




(larger/clearer images of these covers: )
http://fullsize.134.GIF
http://fullsize.135.GIF
http://fullsize.136.GIF
http://fullsize.148.GIF



These others are Kirby pencils with Mike Royer inks:




( larger/clearer images of these covers: )

http://fullsize.143.GIF
http://fullsize.146.GIF


And Kirby pencils, Murphy Anderson inks:




( larger/clearer image of cover: )
http://fullsize.145.GIF




And Kirby pencils/Vince Colletta inks, with Al Plastino inks on the heads of Jimmy Olsen and Superman:


( larger/clearer image of this cover:
http://fullsize.133.GIF )





And Kirby Pencils/ Vince Colletta inks, with Murphy Anderson heads of Jimmy Olsen and Superman
(which was also the interior art formula for most of Kirby's run on the series)...



( larger/clearer image of cover:
http://fullsize.139.GIF )





And finally, Neal Adams cover pencils/Murphy Anderson inks:



( larger/clearer image of this cover:
http://fullsize.147.GIF )



On the interior stories, Murphy Anderson( issues 135-139, 141-145, and 148 ) and Al Plastino (issues 133-134) were recruited to ink the heads of Superman and Jimmy Olsen, to "correct" Kirby's rendition of Superman characters to conform with the Swan/Anderson Superman style in the other Superman titles of the period. Kirby found this annoying and insulting to him as an artist, but I actually like it. Because of it, you get to see a lot of variety on Kirby's pencils on this series. I own a page of original art from issue 148 (page 11).

These covers are an artistic feast by themselves. But I love the interior stories even more. This run, for me, captures everything I enjoy about comics, and Kirby's work in particular: A great mix of adventure, humor, a huge cast of heroes, and Kirby keeps the reader floored with an endless stream of new worlds and visual wonders.

[ **the medium size images were slowing down the server, and didn't show you the detail of these covers anyway, so I deleted the medium-size images and replaced them mostly with thumbnails, with links below to full-size cover images, that you can click on to see the detail, for those who want to view them. ]

For those who share my love for Kirby's JIMMY OLSEN run, I highly recommend a few more recent books, that almost read like "lost episodes" of Kirby's run.

First, LEGENDS OF THE DC UNIVERSE 14 (March 1999), by Mark Evanier and Steve Rude:


(larger/clearer cover image: )
http://fullsize.14.GIF

Evanier and Rude also did a MR MIRACLE SPECIAL back around 1989-1990. Both these stories are very true to the 70's Kirby style.


And LEGENDS OF THE DC UNIVERSE 22 and 23 (Nov and Dec 1999), by Lofficier and Ladronn:



http://fullsize.22.GIF
http://fullsize.23.GIF

Which teams up Superman with scientist Dabney Donovan (mentioned but not seen in JIMMY OLSEN 142-143), and the two journey together to the planet Transilvane. Again, visuals that mesh very well with Kirby's art on the JIMMY OLSEN series.



---------------------


"This Man, This Wonder Boy..."

Jack Kirby is sad because no one is singing his praises
anymore.....

Never cared much for him.

Well, it's a good thing you're here, then, Beardguy, to pick up the slack !


Another series that wonderfully picks up and expands on Kirby's Fourth World series is FOREVER PEOPLE 1-6 (1988) written by J.M. DeMatteis, and illustrated by Paris Cullens and Karl Kesel.




( larger cover images HERE )


I'd especially recommend issue 5, and if you like that, then pick up the rest of the series.

Extremely well written, it captures well the themes of a shadow war being conducted on Earth between good and evil, for the possession of humanity.
The one side (Apokalips) limiting mankind's human potential, whispering notions of fear, anger and petty jealousy to humans, spreading doubts that drive individuals from reaching for greatness, and drive people apart with fear, resentment and fanaticism.
The other side (New Genesis) whispering inspiration, encouragement and love to humans, that presses individuals toward achieving their own potential and happiness, and sharing their happiness with others.

Like Kirby's original series, FOREVER PEOPLE 1-6 captures well a parallel pseudo-Biblical clash between good and evil, of spiritual warfare between two opposing sides, for the spiritual possession of mankind.

There are some minor elements I don't like about the series.
Contrary to developments in the 1988 miniseries, I like the idea of the Forever People as immortal gods, who are eternal symbols of each new generation, full of new ideas and hope for the future.
And I didn't like the way DeMatteis in this new series locks the Forever People into the 60's generation, and ages them, which in my eyes makes them largely cease to be an eternal image of each new generation.
Although the one generation, as DeMatties develops it, can still be a metaphor for each new generation, even though specifically representing only one generation (the 60's generation).

On the plus-side, DeMatteis' linking the Forever People to one generation allows exploration of the Forever People's (and by metaphor, the 60's generation's) descent (during the period from the end of the first series in 1972 till the beginning of this series in 1988) into middle-aged cynicism, disillusionment and complacency, and sends the Forever People on a rejuvinating rediscovery of the optimism of their youth, and a greater appreciation for the blessings in their lives.

Paris Cullins, without swiping from Kirby, does a wonderful job in his art of capturing the visual style of Kirby, with many Kirby-style three-panel and four-panel pages and splash pages, squared fingertips and faces, crackling energy and other Kirby-esque visual elements.

As I said in a letter to Marc DeMatteis at the time, it is an extremely provocative and well-thought-out expansion of Kirby's Fourth World series.

Kirby's Fourth World is rich in symbolic and literary elements, that lay the groundwork for vast expansion. Which FOREVER PEOPLE 1-6 beautifully explores.

I now have ALL six Marvel Masterworks Fantastic Four books. It's really facinating to see how the stories and artwork progress from issue one to issue sixty....wow!

The characters grow as individuals, too.

And Kirby's art goes from very good to Amazing!!

I feel Jack did his BEST work on the FF from about
issue 42 to issue 100...his work matured into the style
he's best loved for.....those amazing two page negative
zone spreads.... fantastic fight scenes.. and the tender
moments between Reed and Sue....

First Inhumans storyline..Galactus... The Negative
Zone....all in the space of about Ten issues!!!

That is simply awesome!!!

Dave The Wonder Boy:

I want to thank you for all the time and effort you've put
into this topic. All the links you posted, the comic book covers, etc, are just fantastic. ( Pun Intended. )

I just read where John Buscema died a couple years ago. I didn't know that. Just look him up on the Net.
He was a great artist! He was reluctant to do comics but as he said in an interview, it paid the bills...and he was right up there with Jack Kirby and Curt Swan, being my number three favorite comic book artist.

He died of stomach cancer at age 74.

The link below tells you more :

http://home.ca.inter.net/owenandsusan/bio.htm

He took over the artistic reigns after Jack left the FF with
his final issue being # 102. He had a great sense of humor, and was good at making deadlines. He was a dependable, great artist and a pretty cool guy, too.

He drew them, and the Avengers and many other comic
titles. He is suurvived by his wife, three children and several grandchildren.

I hope he, Jack Kirby and Curt Swan are together and talking about the good old days at Marvel in the afterlife, and are enjoying themselves. They sure earned with all
the work they did and how they gave us all something to cherish.

Goodbye, John. You will be missed.

Many thanks, Beardguy.

Sometimes it takes a LOT of edits to get those images right !

You share my love for the 60's and 70's material.



I agree on John Buscema (and Swan, Kane and many others). I was aware of Buscema's death because a tribute was posted on the old DC boards when he died. I posted a link to the tribute in my "What's the attraction of Silver Age books?" topic. ( Long gone now. )

Gil Kane, Dan DeCarlo, Kurt Schaffenberger, and Chuck Jones all died around the same time, and had similar tributes on the DC boards.




My favorite Buscema work, though, is his 20-year run on CONAN THE BARBARIAN, and even more so his work in SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN. The Robert E. Howard adaptations especially, in issues 1-35.
I think the series had a dry period in issues 40-60, and then the magic was back from 60-100, plus a lot of great work by other artists in addition to Buscema.
The series changed gears around 150, and I mostly lost interest after that.

But Buscema was a huge deal in the late 60's/early 70's, on the first SILVER SURFER series(1968-1970), and AVENGERS(1969-1971).
And after Kirby left Marvel in 1970, Buscema took over THOR and FF for a few years.

The best interview I saw of Buscema was in the 1979 S.Q productions book, THE ART OF JOHN BUSCEMA. Which also had a beautiful poster-worthy montage of all the characters Buscema has drawn.

Buscema also did a TARZAN series for Marvel that was interesting from 1977-1979, if I recall. Buscema's work is very Hal Foster-influenced, and in that I find him very well suited to any adventure type stories he's done.

Info and photos of John Buscema:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Buscema


I actually read Buscema's FANTASTIC FOUR before I read Kirby's FF. The first Buscema issue I saw was FF 128, very much in the Kirby mode, with very detailed art, even for Buscema.
FF 128 also has a great 4-page insert centerfold of "friends and villains of the FF", printed on glossy stock.




I discovered reprints of the Lee/Kirby FF in MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS within a month or two of reading FF 128, beginning with MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS 38 (reprinting "This Man, This Monster", from FF 51. What a great place to start !)

I've put off posting to this topic for a while, Beardguy, I just wanted to have something to say before I posted here again.
I have to thank you for prodding my interest in the Marvel Masterworks FF reprints.

Since I last posted here, I picked up Volume 1 (reprinting FF 1-10, Nov 1961 to Jan 1963) and volume 6 (reprinting FF 51-61, June 1966 to Mar 1967).
The progress in Kirby's art (from FF 10 to FF 51) in less than four years is just amazing. And the collected hardcover glossy offset-printed format arguably allows greater appreciation of them than when they were originally printed.
I'm waiting for the other FF volumes (2, 3, 4, and 5) to arrive in the mail. I highly recommend e-bay. I saved a fortune !

And I've seen ads that volume 7 (reprinting FF 61-70) is due to be released in the next 30 days.
So it's great that Kirby's best-known work (FF) is only three volumes from being completely collected in hardcover.
And most of his other best-known work as well:
BOYS RANCH, FIGHTING AMERICAN, HULK, THOR, AVENGERS, X-MEN, CAPTAIN AMERICA (Golden Age, and TALES OF SUSPENSE).

And in trade form: JIMMY OLSEN, FOREVER PEOPLE, NEW GODS, and MISTER MIRACLE. Would that these were in comparable hardcovers, like the prior ones I listed.
But... it's just a matter of time.

A trade of Kirby's mid-70's CAPTAIN AMERICA "Mad Bomb" stories will be out in the next month or so as well.

Dave The Wonder Boy:

I want to thank you for all the time and effort you've put
into this topic. All the links you posted, the comic book covers, etc, are
just fantastic. ( Pun Intended. )

I just read where John Buscema died a couple years ago. I didn't know that.
Just look him up on the Net.
He was a great artist! He was reluctant to do comics but as he said in an
interview, it paid the bills...and he was right up there with Jack Kirby and
Curt Swan, being my number three favorite comic book artist.

He died of stomach cancer at age 74.

The link below tells you more :

http://home.ca.inter.net/owenandsusan/bio.htm

He took over the artistic reigns after Jack left the FF with
his final issue being # 102. He had a great sense of humor, and was good at
making deadlines. He was a dependable, great artist and a pretty cool guy,
too.

He drew them, and the Avengers and many other comic
titles. He is suurvived by his wife, three children and several
grandchildren.

I hope he, Jack Kirby and Curt Swan are together and talking about the good
old days at Marvel in the afterlife, and are enjoying themselves. They sure
earned with all
the work they did and how they gave us all something to cherish.

Goodbye, John. You will be missed.

My latest find is a Marvel/DC amalgam book, INCREDIBLE HULK VS. SUPERMAN (story by Roger Stern, art by Steve Rude and Al Milgrom, cover-dated July 1999, and 48 beautiful pages)




The story begins with Superman and Lois (now married) in the present, and then goes into a flashback to 1963 or so, to an encounter Superman had with the Hulk, Banner, Rick Jones, General Ross, etc.
The flashback is to a time where Superman and Lois were rivals and not married, which is an interesting contrast between the two (present and early-60's-past) eras.

The art and story are very reminiscent of the earliest Kirby stories in HULK 1-6, and in early issues of AVENGERS.

Stern also does a version of Superman that is more true to the late-1950's Superman TV series than to the Superman comic. And Lois, Perry White, Clark and Superman are very charmingly their TV selves, rather than their comic book selves.
It's a very pleasant twist, that any Silver-Age fan should enjoy.

The story also has some very sexy panels of Betty Ross and Lois Lane.

It's amazing sometimes, how you can go through back-issue bins and run across untapped treasures that you never knew existed when they were originally released !

Dave, that HULK VS SUPERMAN comic looks really interesting!

Oh, it was great, Beardguy, highly recommended.

Another I love is SECRET CITY SAGA # 0, from 1993, story by Roy Thomas, art by Walt Simonson.
( Click on image to enlarge )

One of the nicest covers in comics history.

Simonson is among the most worthy successors to Kirby, I think he does a great job of capturing the power of Kirby's art, in several great tributes (MANHUNTER, THOR, FANTASTIC FOUR, the 1982 Marvel/DC X-MEN/TEEN TITANS special, ORION, etc.)
But Simonson does tribute to Kirby while producing something completely original. As opposed to just swiping from Kirby.

The other related books that stemmed out from SECRET CITY SAGA # 0 (SECRET CITY SAGA 1-4, BOMBAST 1, CAPTAIN GLORY 1, NIGHT GLIDER 1, and SATAN'S SIX 1-4) were a great tribute to Kirby and his previously unused story concepts, in a nice limited series, that is as much a tribute to Kirby as it is to early Marvel in general, with story and art by early-Marvel creators, such as Roy Thomas, Steve Ditko, Dick Ayers, Don Heck, John Severin, Mike Friedrich and Gerry Conway.




It was more or less an early Marvel staff re-union !

Which must have been very fun and nostalgic for the creators who participated in it.

Dave, I like Walt Simonson, too! Roy Thomas has long been one of my favorite writers..Love his 60's work on The Avengers..and his 80's work on All Star Sqaudron.

I enjoy much of Roy Thomas' work too.

But oddly, to my knowledge, Kirby never collaborated with Roy Thomas.

What I love most from Roy Thomas is his CONAN, SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN, and SAVAGE TALES work.
And also his later CONAN THE ADVENTURER with artist Rafael Kayanan.

And "Bran Mak Morn: Worms of the Earth" adaptation with Tim Conrad, in SAVAGE SWORD 16 and 17. (reprinted a few years ago as a graphic novel)

And "Almuric", in EPIC ILLUSTRATED 2-5, again illustrated by Tim Conrad, in 1980-1981 (also reprinted in a collected volume, by Dark Horse)

I talked a lot about Thomas' contribution, and showed covers for many of these stories in another topic:

• CONAN and other Robert E. Howard material in comics
  http://www.rkmbs.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/184435/fpart/1

I also enjoyed ARAK by Roy Thomas in the early 1980's, a deliberately Conan-esque creation by Thomas, when he left Marvel and went to DC in 1981.

And as you say, his ALL-STAR SQUADRON, INFINITY INC., and YOUNG ALL-STARS runs for DC in the 1980's, which resurrected the JSA to its modern prominence.

If I were to recommend just one issue of Thomas' ALL-STAR SQUADRON, it would be ALL STAR SQUADRON ANNUAL # 1 (1982)

Which links the origins of three Golden-Age characters, Wildcat, The Atom, and the Guardian.
It shows Thomas' vast knowledge of the characters he writes, on any series, and the way he can expand on that knowledge to explore ways to bind them together and tweak them for interesting little unexplored twists.



Although Kirby never collaborated with Thomas, to my knowledge, Kirby did produce a rather un-flattering portrayal of Thomas in MISTER MIRACLE # 6 (1972)


Where Kirby created Funky Flashman, a fast-talking con-artist prone to Stan Lee -esque alliteration and backslapping. And Flashman's groveling ass-kissing lapdog assistant HouseRoy, which are widely recognized as Kirby's expressed opinion on the subject of Stan Lee and Roy Thomas.

Hmmm..Jack cared NOT for Stan and Roy!

I looked up that Hulk vs Superman book on Ebay...
only ONE person has it to sell, and his feedback is too poor for me to feel good about buying it from him..so I put it on a Pre Order Request on Amazon.Com.

http://www.pigdogproductions.com/kirby1.jpg



Two images, which I couldn't separate:

On top, pages 2 and 3 of NEW GODS 5 (1972). Showing one of the race of giants trapped for eternity in the ruins of their machines, in their vain attempts to penetrate the mystery of the source.


And below, the wraparound cover for the KIRBY UNLEASHED portfolio, advertised in all the DC books in early/mid 1972.

Some of the most beautiful pages of Kirby's career.


The site this is sourced from:

https://www.pigdogproductions.com/index2.html

JACK KIRBY is da King!! He and CURT SWAN were and still are my favorite two comic artists, with George Perez, Stuart Immomen, John Buscema, John Romita Jr., Jerry Ordway, and a few others whose names elude me all being tied for a close third place!

They both drew in a very realistic style that I loved.
I admit Jack started getting carried away drawing HUGE
biceps on his male characters, but that was part of the magic because we wanted our heroes to be muscular and powerful looking.

I emulated those two men's styles' when I was a kid, drawing superheroes on those big sheets of paper that your parents gave you for coloring. I used to write and draw my own comics from the time I was 10 till in my early thirties, and I plan on getting back into it again.

These two men were the BEST in comics during the '60's, and their work holds up quite well into the 21 st century!

I like Kirby because he had his unique style, very suitable for the fun, action-packed stories he did. Unfourtunately, his art doesn't speak to me in the emotional level Steve Ditko's art does, but I digress.

I have an old translated SC with two early FF comics, Kamandi in B/W and also translated, and the new Black Panther TPB. I plan to collect his 70's Captain America and Jimmy Olsen TPB's, maybe the B/W Fourth World TPB's too.

Dave The Wonder Boy : I FINALLY recall the name of the young up and coming artist I met back in '83 at the same comic con where I met Chris Clairemont. His name was Paris Cullens! I remember he had some samples of his work there..it was GREAT!! He was and still is a great comic artist!

He was VERY nice. He was as nice to me as Clairemont had been rude. What a contrast!

Wonder what he's doing now?

I actually looked up Paris Cullins in a keyword search on two different occasions since I saw your post, Beardguy.
And I've been able to find nothing he's done in the last decade or so. He just slipped into oblivion.

I remember Cullins best for the FOREVER PEOPLE six-issue miniseries I posted about above, superbly written by J.M DeMatteis.
Cullins' other work that I'm familiar with is a lengthy NEW GODS run, in collaboration with Mark Evanier.

And prior to FOREVER PEOPLE and NEW GODS, Cullins did a mid 80's run of BLUE BEETLE. Issue two has an artist profile of Cullins, from his formative years, other professional work, breaking into comics, and then becoming regular artist on BLUE BEETLE, his first regular series.




Since I last posted to this topic, there's been a flood of Kirby reprint books. Here are just a few:

• CAPTAIN AMERICA: MADBOMB, reprinting Kirby's work from CAPTAIN AMERICA 193-200
  
  CAPTAIN AMERICA: BICENTENNIAL BATTLES, reprinting the lengthy MARVEL TREASURY story from 1976 that has Captain America traveling through time and fighting in all the historical U.S. wars. Best of all was the first chapter, 10 pages of Jack Kirby pencils inked by Barry Windsor-Smith !
  
  JIMMY OLSEN by Kirby, Vol 1, reprinting issues 133-141, which is actually my favorite of Kirby's Fourth World series, the most fun, with a huge cast of characters, and a WOW-factor, constantly flooring the reader with new visuals and concepts.
  
  JIMMY OLSEN by Kirby, Vol 2, reprinting issues 142-148. I especially liked the "Transilvane" story in issues 142-143. All these covers from both volumes can be viewed at the top of this topic page.
  
  BLACK PANTHER, volume 1, reprinting issues 1-7 of Kirby's run on the series from 1977-1978
  
  KAMANDI 1-10 (DC Archive hardcover, released Oct 2005) Reprinting what is my all-time favorite of Kirby's work. Hopefully its success will result in three more volumes being produced in quick succession, allowing all 40 issues to be available in Hardcover format.
  
  FANTASTIC FOUR. Kirby did issues 1-102, the first 6 annuals, and one last fill-in, issue 108, all of which is available now in one format or another.
• The FF Marvel Masterworks, collecting 10 issues per volume, reprinting up through issue 93, has reprinted almost the entire Kirby run in full color offset printing.
• An FF omnibus special hardcover edition (out just two or three months ago) reprints all the Kirby issues in a bulky two-volume hardcover set.
• And the ESSENTIAL FANTASTIC FOUR volumes offer a format to read these stories cheaply in black&white. I got the first volume, reprinting FF 1-20 and Annual 1, before I just had to have them in color hardcover volumes.
  
  THOR (Marvel Masterworks hardcovers) now reprint from issues 83-130, in four volumes so far. Although I'd rather wait until more are printed, so I can enjoy the complete run, or close to it, in this format. (Kirby did scattered issues from 83-96, and then a complete run from 97-177, and 179. THOR and FF are his longest running series)
  
  Greg Theakston, of Pure Imagination publishing, has been endeavoring to publish ALL of Kirby's work, beginning with Kirby's earliest in 1939, up through the Golden Age, late 40's and 50's era. Reprinting all of Kirby's illustration career, spanning more than 40,000 pages of comic art, spread over more than 50 years, a very ambitious project indeed.
  
  And most recent that I'm aware of, just out two weeks ago, the TALES TO ASTONISH 1-10 hardcover, first of a proposed line of hardcovers reprinting Kirby's pre-Marvel (1958-1963) monster stories, that slowly evolved into the Marvel Universe, weaving through those early years in JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY, STRANGE TALES, TALES OF SUSPENSE, and TALES TO ASTONISH, as well as shorter runs in WORLD OF FANTASY, AMAZING ADVENTURES, AMAZING ADULT FANTASY, and one issue of AMAZING FANTASY.

The one I'm most excited about is the KAMANDI 1-10 hardcover.

Here's a map of Kamandi's world from issue 32, enhanced with some fun internet features:







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Wikipedia finally added a page for Paris Cullins:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Cullins

Apparently he left comics for work in advertising, animation and video games.

One of the holy grails of my Jack Kirby collection is the KIRBY UNLEASHED book that was released in 1971. When I was finally able to obtain a copy, it cost me $50.00, back in 1996.

Now, Two Morrows just re-released it in a new edition about a year ago, adding to it a fair amount of new material !

• http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=265
  
  

The Two Morrows publisher-site's description is more specific about the contents, and additional new material.

Even though I already have the original, I'd like the newer version for the additional material, and to have a lower-priced copy, so I don't beat up my original.

I posted the wraparound cover in an earlier post. Which ranks as one of the single best pages of Kirby's career.

I just about ejected in my shorts when I discovered this site:

• ARCHIVE OF ONLINE KIRBY pre-Marvel MONSTER STORIES (expired link)

New links:
https://marswillsendnomore.wordpress.com/2012/12/19/jack-kirbys-monsters-monsteroso/
and
https://marswillsendnomore.wordpress.com/tag/jack-kirby/

Complete scans of every "lost" Kirby monster story --every last page of every unreprinted story online-- from 1959-1963, and you can read each story online !

Most of these stories were reprinted in the 60's an 70's, and this list is all the ones that were never reprinted.

Almost all of these stories were inked by Dick Ayers (who is my favorite Kirby inker from this era. Except for a few stories inked by Chris Rule (mostly from 1959) and by Wood, Kleinman, Reinman and others.




So enjoy.

You'd normally have to pay at least 50 bucks for an archive of stories like this.

That looks like a great website Dave! I'll save some of those comics when I get time!

It's great stuff, guys.

And about 200 pages of it !


My favorite Kirby stuff righht now is the pre-Marvel stuff, from 1958-1963.
Including Kirby's monster stories in the first 35 or so issues of TALES OF SUSPENSE( till Iron Man took over) and TALES TO ASTONISH(till Ant-Man took over) , JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY 51-83 (till Thor took over), and STRANGE TALES roughly 50-100 (before the Human Torch, Doctor Strange and Nick Fury took over).

Plus the more short-lived AMAZING ADVENTURES, AMAZING FANTASY, STRANGE WORLDS and WORLD OF FANTASY.


In addition to the monster stories, Kirby did a wide range of other types of stories: war, western and romance, which I have scattered issues of.
In titles like GUNSMOKE WESTERN, RAWHIDE KID, TWO-GUN KID, KID COLT OUTLAW, LOVE ROMANCES, TEEN-AGE ROMANCE, YOUNG ROMANCE, and BATTLE.


These are wonderful inventive stories, with great little twists of characterization, humor, irony and nobility.

I especially love the RAWHIDE KID stories Kirby did in this era. Like the monster stories, most are 5 pages, 7 pages, or 13 pages. And yet they have more plot than many 22-page stories today. And than any number of current 6-issue "story-arcs" for that matter.

I have a few original RAWHIDE KID issues, but most I have reprinted cheaply in the 70's title MIGHTY MARVEL WESTERN.

Ah, for the days of old, when we expected more and got it...

I hope Marvel will re-print Monster and SF comics by Lee, Kirby and Ditko (in colored trades). If not at least an anthology trade.

Wasn't Jack Kirby the one who created and drew CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN?

He created it. And he drew some of them. However, other writers and artists took over the series.

Thank you, G Man! Although I have not seen a CHALLENGERS issue since the mid sixties or so, I had a feeling....let's see, thier names were :

Ace

Prof

Red

Rocky

unless I am mistaken...I loved those issues! I forget the name of the artist who took over the artistic reigns, though it may have been Bob Brown..