Quite a few Kirby books for later this year to catch up on.
First off, a way in the future (November 2010 by the latest schedule), but most interesting of the new books, DC will as expected add BOY COMMANDOS BY JOE SIMON AND JACK KIRBY VOL. 1 to the hardcover set that already includes SANDMAN BY S&K and the soon-to-be-released NEWSBOY LEGION BY S&K. There were a lot of Boy Commando stories, so even if they keep it at just the stories that Kirby had a hand in they could fill four volumes like this, which I guess would be the plan. If they tried to make it a complete set (which would include some early work by the likes of Curt Swan and Carmine Infantino) that would be about 10 books. Anyway, big year for S&K fans, especially if the Titan published S&K SUPERHEROES book comes out this year.
Greg Theakston is publishing TEEN-AGED DOPE SLAVES AND REFORM SCHOOL GIRLS, a book of crime comics that came out from Eclipse in 1989. If the contents are the same as the original, two S&K stories, “The Bobby Sox Bandit Queen” (HEADLINE COMICS #27 [1947]) and “I Worked For The Fence” (HEADLINE COMICS #28 [1948]).
And from Marvel, as usual, lots of stuff. MARVEL MASTERWORKS: ATLAS ERA TALES OF SUSPENSE VOL. 3 HC is about half-Kirby, with covers and one or two stories every issue. MARVEL MASTERWORKS: SGT. FURY VOL. 3 HC is one of those trivial Kirby reprints, with just one cover by Kirby in this run, but a good one (and the one they chose for the cover of the book). AVENGERS: I AM AN AVENGER VOL. 1 TPB includes reprints of the origin of the team from #1 and the line-up shifting #16. ESSENTIAL FANTASTIC FOUR VOL. 8 TPB gets to the period of Kirby’s return to Marvel, where he did most of the covers for the series. Should be about 15 Kirby covers in total.
THE BOY COMMANDOS BY JOE SIMON AND JACK KIRBY VOL. 1 HC
Writers: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby
Artists: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby
Collects: Stories from DETECTIVE COMICS #64-73 and WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #8-9, and BOY COMMANDOS #1-2
$49.99 US, 256 pg
November 2010
TEEN-AGED DOPE SLAVES AND REFORM SCHOOL GIRLS TP
(W/A) Various
Pre-Code comics at their worst! Teens run wild, get “hooked,” and more often than not wind up dead. Drugs, sex, and death. Top it off with a Kurtzman venereal disease story, and it must be on your coffee table. Impress your friends. Make them want what you have.
SC, 8×11, 112pgs, B&W $20.00
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: ATLAS ERA TALES OF SUSPENSE VOL. 3 HC
Written by STAN LEE & LARRY LIEBER
Penciled by JACK KIRBY, STEVE DITKO, DON HECK & PAUL REINMAN
Cover by JACK KIRBY
It’s a jam-packed Tales of Suspense monster bonanza! And you know you can’t keep a good monster down. No way, no how, and before they revolutionized the super hero set, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby made monsters their daily diet. Klaag. Oog. Bruttu. Monstrollo. Skyscraper-tall lumbering beasts from outer space; muck-covered monsters from the Savannah swamps; lost world anachronisms from beyond time; and they were all here to teach humanity a lesson, whether we liked it or not. And after Kirby scares you with his creatures from the id, Steve Ditko will tear at your conscience—from the inside out—in tense suspense-thrillers cast with nervous-eyed dreamers and sweaty-palmed schemers, none of whom make it out with getting theirs. Each and every tale is executed by a master of storytelling—by the talents that defined the comic book medium for a generation—and each one is brought to you, gleamingly restored, in the fan-favorite Marvel Masterworks line! Collecting TALES OF SUSPENSE #21-31.
304 PGS. $59.99
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: SGT. FURY VOL. 3 HC
Written by STAN LEE & ROY THOMAS
Penciled by DICK AYERS
Cover by JACK KIRBY
Report for duty! It’s time for another Marvel Masterworks mission with Sgt. Nick Fury and his Howling Commandos! It’s all-out action against the Axis powers, done in the Mighty Marvel Method as Fury and the Howlers protect the Manhattan Project and the atom bomb against Nazi spies and saboteurs; uproot an undercover agent who is none other than Red Skull; confront a traitor in their own ranks; and go mano-a-mano with Baron Strucker in a knock-down, drag-out fight battle in war-torn France. You’ll also see revealed—for the first time—the origin of Nick Fury’s eye-patch, follow Dum Dum Dugan as he goes it alone behind enemy lines, and experience the Allied push when Operation Overlord comes together on D-Day! Illustrated by the fightin’ man’s penciller, Dick Ayers, and scripted by Stan “The Man” and his armed-forces heir apparent, Roy Thomas, it’s an all-out classic. Reserve your copy today or it’s gonna be K.P. duty for you! Collecting SGT. FURY #24-32 & ANNUAL #2.
224 PGS $54.99
AVENGERS: I AM AN AVENGER VOL. 1 TPB
Written by STAN LEE, STEVE ENGLEHART, GERRY CONWAY, JIM SHOOTER, DAVID MICHELINIE, WALT SIMONSON & LARRY HAMA
Penciled by JACK KIRBY, DICK AYERS, GEORGE TUSKA, GEORGE PEREZ, JOHN BYRNE, GENE DAY, GENE COLAN, BOB HALL, JOHN BUSCEMA & PAUL RYAN
Cover by PAUL RYAN
The Boisterious Beast! Tigra the Were-Woman! The Sensational She-Hulk! And of course, the Amazing Spider-Man! Avengers recruitment drives brought in all of them, and it’s a day unlike any other when those tales are teamed together for the first time! Plus: a member who comes back from the dead to rejoin and a literal trial by fire when two of Marvel’s most enduring characters – and one of mythdom’s most heralded heroes – join the team during the Inferno crisis! Also featuring the team’s first gathering and its first lineup revision into Cap’s Kooky Quartet! Guest-starring X-Men, Guardians of the Galaxy and more! Collecting AVENGERS (1963) 1, #16, #137, #151, #181, #211, #221, #300 & #329.
216 PGS. $24.99
ESSENTIAL FANTASTIC FOUR VOL. 8 TPB
Written by ROY THOMAS, BILL MANTLO, GERRY CONWAY, LEN WEIN & JIM SHOOTER
Penciled by JOHN BUSCEMA, RICH BUCKLER, GEORGE PEREZ, RON WILSON & SAL BUSCEMA
Cover by JACK KIRBY
With works by fan favorites such as Roy Thomas, John Buscema and George Perez, the Fantastic Four embark on some of their craziest adventures yet! Our heroes battle alternate versions of themselves across the dimensions, fight alongside the Invaders and the Liberty Legion during World War II, and team up with multiple allies to aid in their adventures — including Power Man, the Impossible Man, the Hulk, Thundra and Tigra! Also featuring some of the Fantastic Four’s greatest foes — including the Frightful Four, the Brute, Annihilus, Torgo, Gorr the Golden Gorilla, the Puppet Master and the Mad Thinker! Plus: the High Evolutionary vs. Galactus, with his new herald, the Asgardian Destroyer! And the first modern-age appearance of Marvel Boy, future member of the Agents of Atlas! Collecting FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) #160-179 & #181-183, FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #11, MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #20 AND MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE ANNUAL #1.
520 PGS. $19.99