Kirby FIVE-OH…

A Review of the latest Jack Kirby Collector…

I thought, this time around, I would look at the new book from TwoMorrows Publishing.

The square bound book version of the magazine is, as the title suggests, a collection of fifty of the top best of everything by Jack Kirby and a celebration of 50 years of the “King” of Comics:

• 50 Best Kirby Stories
• 50 Best Kirby Covers
• 50 Best Examples of Unused Kirby Art
• 50 Page Kirby Art Gallery
• 50 Best Kirby Character Designs
• 50 People Influenced by Jack Kirby

For any Fan of Jack Kirby’s work there are some excellent reproductions of his pencilled pages at pretty much original size, as well as examples of his work at the inks stage too. There is also a full colour middle section to the book containing photos of Jack and his family and also some examples of his colour artwork. The book also contains an Afterword by John Morrow.

I am not sure I agree with all the choices, but then again they are only my opinion on the matter and we each have our own favourites, plus with so much material from Jack’s inventory of work throughout his illustrious career, even with a 500 best not everyone would agree with the choices.

The cover sports a Kirby rendition of Superman, strange choice maybe as I would personally have preferred to see maybe one of Jack’s most famous or perhaps best voted covers reproduced here, but again that’s only my opinion.

Coming in at a whopping 168 pages plus heavy weight stock cover, it really is a substantial tome. Add to that the size of the book at, 10” x 14” or 255mm x 355mm for us metric types and you can see you are getting a great book.

The book is superb, but then I am biased as I love Jack’s work so much. It is packed full of examples of his wonderful artwork and John and the gang at TwoMorrows should be knighted for keeping the “Kirby Kandle” burning!!!

If you love great comic art go out and buy a copy now.

I am now waiting for the next issue and also the Jack Kirby Quarterly from Dez Skinn’s Quality written and edited and designed by Chrissie Harper.

Just for a bit of fun I thought I would add my 50 best Kirby moments:

1. “Himon” – Mister Miracle Issue #9
2. “The Pact” – New Gods Issue #7
3. “Toxl The World Killer” - Weird Mystery Tales Issue #2
4. “To Smash The Inhumans” - Silver Surfer Issue 18
5. “The Mountain of Judgement” - Jimmy Olsen Issue # 134
6. “Orion Fights for Earth” - New Gods Issue #1
7. “The Paranoid Pill” - Mister Miracle Issue #3
8. “Super War” – Forever People Issue #3
9. “Unleash the One Who Waits” The Origin of the Demon - The Demon Issue#1
10. “The Power” - Forever People Issue #8
11. “The Wrecker” – The Mighty Thor Issue 171
12. “The Fear Machine” - New Gods Issue #2
13. “The Year of the Rat” – Kamandi Issue #2
14. “The Madbomb, Screamer in the Brain” - Captain America Issue #193
15. "Genocide Spray" - Jimmy Olsen Issue #143
16. “The Apokolips Trap” Mister Miracle Issue #7
17. “Beauty and the Beast” Incredible Hulk Issue #5
18. “Let There Be Life” - Fantastic Four King Size Special Issue #6
19. “The Electric head” Manhunter – First Issue Special Issue #5
20. “Atlas the Great “ Atlas the Great - – First Issue Special Issue #1
21. "Tales of Asgard" Issue #1
22. “The Howler” – The Demon Issue #6
23. "The Mister Miracle To Be" - Mr. Miracle Issue #10
24. “Him” – The Mighty Thor Issue #165
25. "The Return of the Frightful Four" - Fantastic Four Issue #94
26. “New Bodies for Old” – OMAC Issue #5
27. “When Fall The Mighty” – Fantastic Four Issue #70
28. “And So It Ends” – The Fantastic Four Issue #71
29. "Captain America joins the Avengers" - Avengers Issue #4
30. "Marak" - 2001 A Space Odyssey Issue #3
31. "The Avengers Battle the Space Phantom" - Avengers Issue#2
32. "Day of the Gods" - Eternals Issue #1
33. "The Coming of Ka-Zar" - X-Men Issue #10
34. “The Hunger Dogs” – New Gods Graphic Novel
35. “What Lurks Behind The Beehive?” – Fantastic Four Issue #66
36. “When Opens The Cocoon” – Fantastic Four Issue #67
37. “What was ‘X’, The Thing That Lived?” - Tales to Astonish # 20
38. "Gorgolla, The Living Gargoyle" - Strange Tales Issue #74
39. "Kang, the Conqueror" - Avengers Issue #8
40. “Fin Fang Foom” - Strange Tales # 89
41. "The Mad Thinker and his Androids of Death" – Fantastic Four Issue #96
42. "The Monster from the Lost Lagoon" - Fantastic Four Issue #97
43. "The Coming of Galactus" - Fantastic Four Issue #48
44. "Among Us Stalk the Sentinels" - X-Men Issue #14
45. “The Skywalker” Justice Inc. Issue #2
46. “Buddy Blank and Brother Eye” - Omac Issue #1
47. "What was X, The Thing that Lived" - Tales to Astonish Issue# 20
48. "Spirit World" Issue #1
49. "In the Days of the Mob" Issue #1
50. "2001 A Space Odyssey" Treasury Edition

Hey guys it really is hard picking only fifty…

Until next time have fun!

Tim Perkins…
July 16th 2008