Happy 100th birthday Jack Kirby!
#1
Challenge Guru & Comic Nerd
Thread Starter
Happy 100th birthday Jack Kirby!
Nice words from Mark Evanier.
http://www.newsfromme.com/2017/08/28/kirby-at-100/
Trying to decide what Kirby to read today. Either some Fantastic Four or Kamandi most likely.
http://www.newsfromme.com/2017/08/28/kirby-at-100/
Trying to decide what Kirby to read today. Either some Fantastic Four or Kamandi most likely.
#2
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Happy 100th birthday Jack Kirby!
The older I get, the more I appreciate Kirby's contributions to the comic book medium. I never really liked his art style as a youngster but it has grown on me over the years.
I do resent Stan Lee a bit for stealing a lot of Kirby's thunder with casual audiences. Marvel's films never happen if Jack Kirby hadn't been born.
I was thinking of getting that huge Jack Kirby Adamantium hardcover, reproducing key issues in their original drawn size.
I do resent Stan Lee a bit for stealing a lot of Kirby's thunder with casual audiences. Marvel's films never happen if Jack Kirby hadn't been born.
I was thinking of getting that huge Jack Kirby Adamantium hardcover, reproducing key issues in their original drawn size.
#3
DVD Talk Godfather
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Home of 2013 NFL champion Seahawks
Posts: 52,467
Received 987 Likes
on
818 Posts
Re: Happy 100th birthday Jack Kirby!
I should resume my New Gods omnibus trek one of these days. I'd had only passing familiarity with the series, so I blind-bought the books and have enjoyed the chronological reading order that would be a clumsy experience in digital.
#4
Re: Happy 100th birthday Jack Kirby!
Same here. I would collect tons of Adams stuff and laughed at Kirby's art. I appreciate it now. I recently completed his run on Mr. Miracle. I loved Marshall Roger's art when the book was continued and I never bothered with Kirby's prior run on the series.
#5
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: Happy 100th birthday Jack Kirby!
My favorite Jack Kirby run was on Fantastic Four. It's probably the most influential comic book era of all time IMO.
#7
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: Happy 100th birthday Jack Kirby!
I've become addicted to the big $2 dealers at C2E2, and I've picked up a lot of great reading copies of terrific books that way. One of my finds from a few years back was Thor Annual #4, which reprints Thor #131-132. I was never much of a Thor fan, but this book has completely turned me around.
It's glorious Kirby insanity.
A big-headed alien chick claims the Earth in the name of her race. She insists that no one can withstand the might of her mental power. Thor says, "Fuck you, I'm Thor!" and kicks her ass. Then she says while Thor may have beaten her, no one can stand up to the might of her battle cruiser. Thor says, "Fuck you, I'm Thor!" and kicks the battle cruiser's ass. Then she says that while Thor may have beaten her battle cruiser, no one can stand up to the indestructible robot her people have sent to defeat him. Thor says, "Fuck you, I'm Thor!" and kicks the robot's ass. Then she says that while Thor may have beaten the robot, her planet will still eventually overcome him. Thor says, "Fuck you, I'm Thor!" and forces her to drive him to her home planet. On the way there, Thor discovers Ego, the Living Planet in a LSD-OMG-turn-on-the-black-light final page and the annual ends.
I hunted down a softcover copy of Thor Marvel Masterworks #5 to get the rest of the story. I think tonight I'll finally get around to reading it.
#8
Re: Happy 100th birthday Jack Kirby!
Count me in the group who never really appreciated Kirby until later in life. Part of the problem was that I never read any of the *really* classic Kirby stuff from the latter half of the 60's until recently. Over the years I'd dip my toes into the silver age, but only the really early Marvel stuff when he was doing 7 books a month with an endless rotation of inkers of varying quality. I'd always come away wondering what the big deal was.
After getting into original art collecting a couple of years ago, I was introduced to more and more of the good stuff and now I totally get it. I've been slowly going through his back catalog and loving every minute of it. Today I decided to start in on The Eternals. I know his best years were probably behind him at that point, but I love kooky late 70's Kirby inked by Mike Royer. The stories are a little hit or miss, but the art and all the crazy ideas just radiate off the page.
After getting into original art collecting a couple of years ago, I was introduced to more and more of the good stuff and now I totally get it. I've been slowly going through his back catalog and loving every minute of it. Today I decided to start in on The Eternals. I know his best years were probably behind him at that point, but I love kooky late 70's Kirby inked by Mike Royer. The stories are a little hit or miss, but the art and all the crazy ideas just radiate off the page.
#9
Banned
Re: Happy 100th birthday Jack Kirby!
I grew up in an era when both Marvel and DC were at odds with Kirby but the indy scene love him. The first time I saw his stuff was with the Super Powers comic book and then I saw some of the Fourth World creations he did and loved it. I started reading his Marvel stuff in the the late 80's/ early 90's when some of his most famous stories were reprinted in milestone issues.
I heard so many stories as how many of the 70's and 80's staff of writers, artists, editors and inkers at Marvel and DC didn't like Kirby's artwork at all, calling him Hack Kirby behind his back. DC editors in particular didn't like the way he drew Superman and his cast of characters. They felt that Superman could only have the look that guys like Curt Swan had established and that the way Kirby drew his face was disturbing. They had other artists like Neal Adams and Gil Kane re-draw Superman face on the books he did.
His impact in the business is bigger than anyone else in my opinion. Stan Lee is up there with him, but Kirby's imagination in his art is what gave the visuals of the characters we still see today.
I heard so many stories as how many of the 70's and 80's staff of writers, artists, editors and inkers at Marvel and DC didn't like Kirby's artwork at all, calling him Hack Kirby behind his back. DC editors in particular didn't like the way he drew Superman and his cast of characters. They felt that Superman could only have the look that guys like Curt Swan had established and that the way Kirby drew his face was disturbing. They had other artists like Neal Adams and Gil Kane re-draw Superman face on the books he did.
His impact in the business is bigger than anyone else in my opinion. Stan Lee is up there with him, but Kirby's imagination in his art is what gave the visuals of the characters we still see today.
#10
Re: Happy 100th birthday Jack Kirby!
I grew up in an era when both Marvel and DC were at odds with Kirby but the indy scene love him. The first time I saw his stuff was with the Super Powers comic book and then I saw some of the Fourth World creations he did and loved it. I started reading his Marvel stuff in the the late 80's/ early 90's when some of his most famous stories were reprinted in milestone issues.
I heard so many stories as how many of the 70's and 80's staff of writers, artists, editors and inkers at Marvel and DC didn't like Kirby's artwork at all, calling him Hack Kirby behind his back. DC editors in particular didn't like the way he drew Superman and his cast of characters. They felt that Superman could only have the look that guys like Curt Swan had established and that the way Kirby drew his face was disturbing. They had other artists like Neal Adams and Gil Kane re-draw Superman face on the books he did.
His impact in the business is bigger than anyone else in my opinion. Stan Lee is up there with him, but Kirby's imagination in his art is what gave the visuals of the characters we still see today.
I heard so many stories as how many of the 70's and 80's staff of writers, artists, editors and inkers at Marvel and DC didn't like Kirby's artwork at all, calling him Hack Kirby behind his back. DC editors in particular didn't like the way he drew Superman and his cast of characters. They felt that Superman could only have the look that guys like Curt Swan had established and that the way Kirby drew his face was disturbing. They had other artists like Neal Adams and Gil Kane re-draw Superman face on the books he did.
His impact in the business is bigger than anyone else in my opinion. Stan Lee is up there with him, but Kirby's imagination in his art is what gave the visuals of the characters we still see today.
#11
#12
Re: Happy 100th birthday Jack Kirby!
From a quick image search:
And not just Superman:
Let's hire Kirby and then publish work that doesn't look like Kirby. Makes no sense, Carmine.
#13
Re: Happy 100th birthday Jack Kirby!
Kirby wasn't the only one having his faces redrawn. It was more about Superman than it was about Kirby. And it's not like John Romita wasn't doing the same thing to a certain extent at Marvel.
#14
Re: Happy 100th birthday Jack Kirby!
I started reading Marvel Comics in the summer of 1965 and Kirby's work was fantastic, a real revelation. Marvel Comics was the anime of its time. I even made a film in college where I filmed the images from a Fantastic Four comic (#51: This Man, This Monster) and added voices, sound FX and music. I've been meaning to post it on YouTube but haven't gotten around to it yet.
I was in Midtown Comics yesterday and found a series called True Believers #1, reprints of the first issues or first stories of multiple Kirby-created characters, including Captain America, Iron Man, Fantastic Four, Thor and Ant-Man and Wasp. They were $1 each, so I bought them all. Then I saw a card advertising an exhibition devoted to his centennial down at the Jack Kirby Museum, the last day being August 30, so I had only a few hours left to see it, so downtown I went.
They had biographical text positioned around the walls along with reproductions of covers and drawings and photos of Kirby and associates. I didn't notice any original drawings, although there may have been a few. There wasn't a lot of material, but it is a small place. Here are some pix:
Plus a cover from one of the True Believers series:
I was in Midtown Comics yesterday and found a series called True Believers #1, reprints of the first issues or first stories of multiple Kirby-created characters, including Captain America, Iron Man, Fantastic Four, Thor and Ant-Man and Wasp. They were $1 each, so I bought them all. Then I saw a card advertising an exhibition devoted to his centennial down at the Jack Kirby Museum, the last day being August 30, so I had only a few hours left to see it, so downtown I went.
They had biographical text positioned around the walls along with reproductions of covers and drawings and photos of Kirby and associates. I didn't notice any original drawings, although there may have been a few. There wasn't a lot of material, but it is a small place. Here are some pix:
Plus a cover from one of the True Believers series:
Last edited by Ash Ketchum; 08-31-17 at 09:55 AM.
#15
DVD Talk Godfather
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Home of 2013 NFL champion Seahawks
Posts: 52,467
Received 987 Likes
on
818 Posts
Re: Happy 100th birthday Jack Kirby!
It's one of the greatest runs in comics. I bought them all digitally in the Amazon blowout to make them easy to revisit.
I've become addicted to the big $2 dealers at C2E2, and I've picked up a lot of great reading copies of terrific books that way. One of my finds from a few years back was Thor Annual #4, which reprints Thor #131-132. I was never much of a Thor fan, but this book has completely turned me around.
It's glorious Kirby insanity.
A big-headed alien chick claims the Earth in the name of her race. She insists that no one can withstand the might of her mental power. Thor says, "Fuck you, I'm Thor!" and kicks her ass. Then she says while Thor may have beaten her, no one can stand up to the might of her battle cruiser. Thor says, "Fuck you, I'm Thor!" and kicks the battle cruiser's ass. Then she says that while Thor may have beaten her battle cruiser, no one can stand up to the indestructible robot her people have sent to defeat him. Thor says, "Fuck you, I'm Thor!" and kicks the robot's ass. Then she says that while Thor may have beaten the robot, her planet will still eventually overcome him. Thor says, "Fuck you, I'm Thor!" and forces her to drive him to her home planet. On the way there, Thor discovers Ego, the Living Planet in a LSD-OMG-turn-on-the-black-light final page and the annual ends.
I hunted down a softcover copy of Thor Marvel Masterworks #5 to get the rest of the story. I think tonight I'll finally get around to reading it.
It's glorious Kirby insanity.
A big-headed alien chick claims the Earth in the name of her race. She insists that no one can withstand the might of her mental power. Thor says, "Fuck you, I'm Thor!" and kicks her ass. Then she says while Thor may have beaten her, no one can stand up to the might of her battle cruiser. Thor says, "Fuck you, I'm Thor!" and kicks the battle cruiser's ass. Then she says that while Thor may have beaten her battle cruiser, no one can stand up to the indestructible robot her people have sent to defeat him. Thor says, "Fuck you, I'm Thor!" and kicks the robot's ass. Then she says that while Thor may have beaten the robot, her planet will still eventually overcome him. Thor says, "Fuck you, I'm Thor!" and forces her to drive him to her home planet. On the way there, Thor discovers Ego, the Living Planet in a LSD-OMG-turn-on-the-black-light final page and the annual ends.
I hunted down a softcover copy of Thor Marvel Masterworks #5 to get the rest of the story. I think tonight I'll finally get around to reading it.
#16
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: Happy 100th birthday Jack Kirby!
The first one I read was FF #45. At first I was confused because it started in the middle of the story. I got to the end and it was a cliffhanger "to be continued". I quickly figured out that these things were numbered and had a cover date. To get the whole story you bought the next one each month. I thought that was the neatest concept ever. I was hooked for life.
About a week later Lost in Space premiered on CBS. I was watching the very first episode and at the end, "To Be Continued Next Week" happened. I thought "Wow! Just like the comics!"
A few months later Batman premiered. Again, "Tune in Tomorrow!"
Ever since I've been fascinated by things that come in a series or sets.
#17
Re: Happy 100th birthday Jack Kirby!
I would definitely consider myself a Jack Kirby fan. My earliest memories of his comics were going to a Kay-bee toy store in the late '70's/very early '80's & getting some back issues of Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth. Even at the time, I thought it was odd that a toy store was selling comic books.
I also have fond memories of getting the reprint line of The New Gods printed on the high quality paper, in the then-new direct market stores - circa Fall 1984. Great stuff - especially since I hadn't read these when they were first released (too young).
I also have fond memories of getting the reprint line of The New Gods printed on the high quality paper, in the then-new direct market stores - circa Fall 1984. Great stuff - especially since I hadn't read these when they were first released (too young).