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Today is Jack Kirby’s 93rd birthday.

Mark Evanier has a post with a neat photo.
Harry Mendryk has a nice selection of original art scans. And if you haven’t already, check out Harry’s recently completed series of posts on the S&K romance comics.

This link should lead you to a lot more around with blogosphere.

Didn’t get time to do a special post I was planning for the date, unfortunately, so here are links to 93 prior posts about comics with Jack Kirby work in them:

Young Romance #20 [v3n8] [1950]
Strange World of Your Dreams #3 [1952]
Young Love #50 [v5n8] [1953]
Black Magic #27 [v4n3] [1953]
Black Magic #28 [v4n4] [1954]
Black Magic #33 [v5n3] [1954]
Young Romance #87 [v10n3] [1957]
Cracked #14 [1960]
Journey Into Mystery #59 [1960]
Two-Gun Kid #55 [1960]
Classics Illustrated #35 [HRN-161] [1961]
The World Around Us #31 [1961]
Strange Tales #139 [1965]
Fighting American #1 [1966]
Fantasy Masterpieces #11 [1967]
Tales of Suspense #94 [1967]
Fantastic Four #78 [1968]
Thor #163 [1969]
Thor #164 [1969]
Thor #170 [1969]
Thor #172 [1970]
Fantastic Four #97 [1970]
Challengers of the Unknown #75 [1970]
The Silver Surfer #18 [1970]
Where Monsters Dwell #5 [1970]
Chamber of Darkness #7 [1970]
Amazing Adventures #3 [1970]
Ka-Zar #2 [1970]
Amazing Adventures #4 [1971]
The Incredible Hulk Special #3 [1971]
Rawhide Kid #84 [1971]
The New Gods #2 [1971]
Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #139 [1971]
The Forever People #4 [1971]
Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #141 [1971]
House of Mystery #199 [1972]
The Demon #3 [1972]
The Demon #8 [1973]
Mister Miracle #14 [1973]
The Demon #13 [1973]
Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth! #11 [1973]
Boy Commandos #2 [1973]
Black Magic #2 [1974]
Mister Miracle #17 [1974]
Marvel Spectacular #6 [1974]
Marvel Double Feature #4 [1974]
Giant-Size Spider-Man #1 [1974]
The Sandman #1 [1974]
Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth! #25 [1975]
Giant-Size Man-Thing #3 [1975]
Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth! #26 [1975]
Black Magic #8 [1975]
Giant-Size Master of Kung Fu #3 [1975]
Marvel Double Feature #9 [1975]
Black Magic #9 [1975]
Action Comics #449 [1975]
Justice, Inc. #2 [1975]
Our Fighting Forces #158 [1975]
Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter #3 [1975]
Journey into Mystery #19 [1975]
Justice, Inc. #3 [1975]
OMAC #7 [1975]
Our Fighting Forces #162 [1975]
Captain America #193 [1976]
The Sandman #6 [1976]
Marvel’s Greatest Comics #62 [1976]
Rawhide Kid #134 [1976]
Captain America #201 [1976]
Thor #254 [1976]
Black Panther #1 [1977]
2001 – A Space Odyssey #7 [1977]
The Eternals Annual #1 [1977]
Black Panther #4 [1977]
Devil Dinosaur #2 [1978]
The Silver Surfer [1978]
Black Panther #10 [1978]
Machine Man #4 [1978]
DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #9 [1981]
Adventure Comics Digest #491 [1982]
Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers #9 [1983]
Silver Star #1 [1983]
Teen-Aged Dope Slaves and Reform School Girls [1989]
Argosy #2 [1990]
The Avengers #350 [1992]
Monster Menace #3 [1994]
Phantom Force #8 [1994]
X-men – The Early Years #8 [1994]
Jack Kirby Checklist 1998 Final Edition [1998]
Golden Age of Marvel #2 [1999]
Gunslingers #1 [2000]
A DC Universe Christmas [2000]
Comics Revue #187 [2001]
Showcase Presents The House of Mystery #1 [2006]

Well, barring something unforseen, it looks like every major Kirby publication of 2009 should be out now, so why not get the annual recap out of the way early, while there’s still time for last minute gift shopping. I count 42 publications with Kirby content this past year, a few of them trivial, but a lot of them major books full of great material, including several hundred pages of never previously reprinted comics.

As usual, lists of stuff announced and released, and some links, are over here.

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THE BEST OF SIMON AND KIRBY [HC]
Book of the year, by a long shot, maybe book of the decade, this massive hardcover, the first in Joe Simon’s new publishing deal with Titan, provides a great sampler of the long and fruitful collaboration of S&K. All genres represented (including a few stories from Marvel and DC), a lot of stuff that hasn’t been seen since it was first published, and gorgeous full-colour restoration. If for some reason you don’t have this book yet, get it now. Plus more books on the way from Simon in the years ahead.

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COLLECTED JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR VOL. 7 [TPB]
THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #52
THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #53
Courtesy of TwoMorrows, the 7th volume of COLLECTED brings the last of the 8.5×11 issues back into print, with the usual selection of new material. Meanwhile the tabloid sized issues continue, with the usual assortment of rarities, pencil art and more. #52 reprinted a Jim Bowie western, and #53 reprinted a long BLACK MAGIC story. Next issue should be out in January. Digital editions (downloadable PDF files) are available for many recent issues.

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THE LOSERS BY JACK KIRBY [HC]
THE SANDMAN BY JOE SIMON & JACK KIRBY [HC]
DC had two major books of Kirby from different eras, and if it weren’t for the BEST OF S&K above they’d be duking it out for book of the year honours. THE LOSERS collects the dozen issues of OUR FIGHTING FORCES Kirby did in the mid-1970s, an assignment that he somewhat surprisingly managed to turn into a deeply personal and highly memorable run of classic comics. And then DC finally got around to collecting some of the classic golden age S&K material, with a reprint of all of their Sandman stories from ADVENTURE and WORLD’S FINEST (not the ALL-STAR COMICS stories, unfortunately), plus their 1970s reunion on a new version of the character (the first S&K&Royer issue only, not Kirby’s later work on the character). NEWSBOY LEGION on tap for 2010, presumably BOY COMMANDOS after that (that will likely take two volumes), or maybe a slim volume for MANHUNTER.

SUPERMAN: THE COMING OF ATLAS [HC]
Also from DC, they brought back Atlas, from one of Kirby’s FIRST ISSUE SPECIAL #1 in 1975, as a character in a recent Superman storyline, so when they reprinted the new stuff they were nice enough to include a reprint of the Kirby original. There’ll be a softcover of the collection coming out in 2010, again with the Kirby. Similar thinking goes into the upcoming KOBRA: RESURRECTION book having the Kirby debut of the character.

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SUPERMEN! THE FIRST WAVE OF COMIC-BOOK HEROES (1939-41) [TPB]
Despite the title, not from DC, this Fantagraphics collection of various superhuman types who proliferated in comics soon after the debut of Superman includes the Cosmic Carson story from SCIENCE COMICS #4 and the final S&K Blue Bolt story from BLUE BOLT #10. Plus a bunch of Jack Cole, Bill Everett, Lou Fine, Basil Wolverton and others. Worth a look.

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And the rest is all Marvel, with the usual selection of Kirby reprints in all their various formats.

ESSENTIAL THOR VOL. 4 [TPB]
ESSENTIAL SUB-MARINER VOL. 1 [TPB]
Marvel’s line of thick black&white reprints, the THOR volume finally takes them to the end of Kirby’s run and beyond, so good to have that full run available in handy reprints for the first time ever. The SUB-MARINER volume includes a pair of stories that Kirby did in TALES TO ASTONISH, plus a lot of covers by Kirby.

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: GOLDEN AGE CAPTAIN AMERICA VOL. 3 [HC]
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE MIGHTY THOR VOL. 8 [HC]
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: GOLDEN AGE MARVEL COMICS VOL. 4 [HC]
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: ATLAS ERA BLACK KNIGHT/YELLOW CLAW VOL. 1 [HC]
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE INHUMANS VOL. 1 [HC]
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE HUMAN TORCH VOL. 2 [HC]
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: GOLDEN AGE YOUNG ALLIES VOL. 1 [HC]

More then two decades in the old hardcover line continues. GA CAP v3 has the last two S&K issues and continues beyond that. THOR v8 brings them one volume from the end, with some really nice Everett inked issues included. GA MARVEL v4 has the first four Vision stories, some never reprinted before. Big Kirby release among these is probably the BLACK KNIGHT/YELLOW CLAW book, which has all three issues of Kirby’s CLAW from the mid-1950s, some of it never before reprinted. INHUMANS v1 has some nice stuff, the back-up feature from THOR, the stories from AMAZING ADVENTURES #1-#4 and even some NOT BRAND ECHH before moving on to post-Kirby stuff. TORCH v2 has one Kirby story and a bunch of covers. YOUNG ALLIES is really trivial Kirby content. In upcoming volumes, Kirby art in the third TALES TO ASTONISH book.

THE X-MEN OMNIBUS VOL. 1 [HC]
A massive hardcover, in colour and slightly larger than the Masterworks books, of the first 31 issues of the series, so all the issues Kirby drew, plus the ones after that that he did full cover pencils for (a few later issues he’s sometimes credited with cover layouts). Looks like a Thor movie is in the works, so expect a volume whenever the film opening is.

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN VOL. 1 [TPB]
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE FANTASTIC FOUR VOL. 1 [TPB]
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE X-MEN VOL. 1 [TPB]
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE AVENGERS VOL. 1 [TPB]
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE FANTASTIC FOUR VOL. 2 [TPB]
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE X-MEN VOL. 2 [TPB]
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE INCREDIBLE HULK VOL. 1 [TPB]
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE AVENGERS VOL. 2 [TPB]

And they started releasing the Masterworks line in $25 softcovers this year. One a month, following the same sequence as the originals, so lots of Kirby in the first few years. His contribution to the SPIDER-MAN volume is minimal, of course, but he’s all over the other listed books. If they maintain the schedule 2010 will see two more FF volumes, two SURFER books (I think the current layout has a Kirby short story in v1 and his work on the last issue of the series in v2), lots of Kirby in THOR v1 and CAPTAIN AMERICA v1, some Kirby in IRON MAN v1 and DAREDEVIL v1 and trivial Kirby in SPIDER-MAN v4.

THOR: TALES OF ASGARD BY STAN LEE & JACK KIRBY #1 (JiM 97-104)
THOR: TALES OF ASGARD BY STAN LEE & JACK KIRBY #2 (JiM 105-112)
THOR: TALES OF ASGARD BY STAN LEE & JACK KIRBY #3 (JiM 113-120)
THOR: TALES OF ASGARD BY STAN LEE & JACK KIRBY #4 (JiM 121 – Thor 128)
THOR: TALES OF ASGARD BY STAN LEE & JACK KIRBY #5 (Thor 129 – Thor 136)
THOR: TALES OF ASGARD BY STAN LEE & JACK KIRBY #6 (Thor 137 – Thor 145)
For some reason they decided to finally do a stand-alone reprint of the long run of 5-page “Tales of Asgard” stories that ran in the back of JiM/THOR for four years, but they also decided to do with some thoroughly modern colouring. If that’s your thing, then this is for you. A hardcover collection comes out in a few months, a softcover will probably follow soon after.

MARVEL 70th ANNIVERSARY [TPB]
ANNIHILATION CLASSIC [TPB]
FANTASTIC FOUR: LOST ADVENTURES BY STAN LEE [TPB]
MARVEL SUPER HERO TEAM-UP [TPB]
PET AVENGERS CLASSIC [TPB]
A few collections with some Kirby content, but mostly other stuff. I think some Cap, FF and Avengers in 70th, a short sci-fi/monster story in ANNIHILATION, the reconstructed FF #108 in LOST ADVENTURES, a Cap/Fury team-up in TEAM-UP (that was the book that was supposed to be called MARVEL BROMANCE) and an FF story in PET AVENGERS.

THOR #600 (several Tales of Asgard short stories)
CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS 70th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL #1 (one S&K reprint from CAPTAIN AMERICA #7)
MYSTIC COMICS 70th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL #1 (reprints of two Vision stories from MARVEL COMICS #13 and #16)
SECRET INVASION: REQUIEM (first Wasp story)
THOR #600 (some Tales of Asgard stories)
THOR GIANT-SIZE FINALE (reprints JiM #83)
And every now and then, when there’s some giant issue of a comic that they want to justify adding a few dollars to the price, a Kirby reprint will show up as back-up material to some new stuff. Here are the examples I know of from this year, there may be more, they aren’t always announced ahead of time.

Congratulations to Joe Simon, born 96 years ago today.

(at right, above, from 1942)

As usual for all your Joe Simon needs I refer you to Harry Mendryk’s S&K Blog. It’s been a good year for Simon’s classic work getting back into print, with the big BEST OF SIMON & KIRBY book from Titan and the SANDMAN book from DC. Expect more in the year to come.

Doesn’t look like any more Kirby is due out in the last two weeks of the year, so here’s an overview of 2008 in Kirby publications. You can probably still get some of them in time for Hanukkah gift giving. Busy year again, with 41 publications listed below, some trivial but a fair number of major works as well.

Highlight of the year, that’s a tough one. Evanier’s KIRBY: KING OF COMICS is a strong contender. The latest COMPLETE KIRBY has some amazing material. All 16-issues of THE DEMON in one big book. Plus several of the TwoMorrows publications. Today I’d go with COMPLETE KIRBY v5.

As usual, lists of stuff announced and released, and some links, are over here.

First up, from TwoMorrows:

KIRBY FIVE-OH: 50 YEARS OF KING OF COMICS
KIRBY FIVE-OH: 50 YEARS OF KING OF COMICS [Hardcover]
JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #51
COLLECTED JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR – VOLUME 6
COMICS GO HOLLYWOOD—FCBD 2008 EDITION
JACK KIRBY CHECKLIST GOLD EDITION
Only two issues of TJKC, but one was double-sized (and #52 should be out early in 2009). As usual some new art to go with the reprints in the COLLECTED JKC book. The updated checklist was a treat, especially if you get the searchable PDF version as well. Very good year overall.

I’m sure that some of their other magazines, especially ALTER EGO, had some Kirby content throughout the year, though I haven’t seen them all. Anyone know if there was anything more than spot illustrations, enough to warrant being included on this list?

Looking forward to 2009, more of the same, v7 of COLLECTED already scheduled, finishing up the issues in the original pre-tabloid format.

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DC reprinted the following:

JACK KIRBY’S FOURTH WORLD OMNIBUS VOL. 4
JACK KIRBY’S OMAC: ONE MAN ARMY CORPS
JACK KIRBY’S THE DEMON
Some nice matching hardcovers of Kirby’s 1970s and 1980s work, a lot of it reprinted for the first time ever and sometimes including stuff not in the originals (the original version of HUNGER DOGS, a few unused pages from THE DEMON and OMAC).

COUNTDOWN SPECIAL: KAMANDI
COUNTDOWN SPECIAL: OMAC
COUNTDOWN SPECIAL: THE NEW GODS
A few one-shot comics reprinting some 1970s Kirby with tangential connections to then-current new DC comics. Only one Kirby story in the OMAC one, the other two are all Kirby, and the KAMANDI one includes one of the issues not yet reprinted elsewhere.

SHAZAM: THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD TP
One of the stories from CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES #1, the only issue of the series produced by S&K back in 1940.

In 2009, look for more 1970s material, starting with The Losers, and probably some 1940s S&K, plus some stray bits like the 1970s Atlas issue of FIRST ISSUE SPECIAL in a reprint of some current Superman comics.

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Marvel, as usual, had a lot of Kirby in various formats:

JACK KIRBY’S GALACTIC BOUNTY HUNTERS VOL. 1 TPB
A third chance to buy the material based on Kirby’s concepts (with some of his art) done by Lisa Kirby, Mike Thibodeaux and others.

FANTASTIC FOUR: THE LOST ADVENTURE
FANTASTIC FOUR: LOST ADVENTURES BY STAN LEE HC
The reconstruction of the story that was chopped up to become FF #108, newly inked by Joe Sinnott. The one-shot comic includes the pencils and the version printed in FF #108, not sure of the hardcover (which includes other later-day returns to the FF by the writer) includes those. There’s also one page which turned up later which I don’t think is included in the above.

ETERNALS BY JACK KIRBY BOOK 1 TPB
ETERNALS BY JACK KIRBY BOOK 2 TPB
The complete 1970s series gets collected in a pair of softcovers for those who didn’t get the one-volume hardcover a few years back.

ANNIHILATION CLASSIC HC
HULK VS. THE MARVEL UNIVERSE TPB
SECRET INVASION: THE INFILTRATION TPB
Some Kirby is included among various non-Kirby stories in these reprints that tie into current Marvel events.

AVENGERS CLASSIC #8
AVENGERS CLASSIC #9
AVENGERS CLASSIC #10
AVENGERS CLASSIC #11
AVENGERS CLASSIC #12
HULK VS. HERCULES – WHEN TITANS COLLIDE
A few reprints in more traditional comic book format. Just minor Kirby reprints in those AVENGERS CLASSIC issues after #8, and a short back-up reprint in that HULK VS. HERCULES one-shot.

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: ANT-MAN/GIANT-MAN VOL. 2 HC
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: ATLAS ERA TALES OF SUSPENSE VOL. 2 HC
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: ATLAS ERA TALES TO ASTONISH VOL. 2 HC
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: GOLDEN AGE CAPTAIN AMERICA VOL. 2 HC
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: SGT. FURY VOL. 2 HC
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE FANTASTIC FOUR VOL. 11 HC
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE MIGHTY THOR VOL. 7 HC
Various eras of Kirby continue in this line of books, with mostly just covers in the ANT-MAN/GIANT-MAN and SGT. FURY books, a half-issue (since reconstructed in that LOST ADVENTURE book above) in the FF book, but lots of Kirby in the others.

THE INCREDIBLE HULK OMNIBUS VOL. 1 HC
THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN OMNIBUS VOL. 1 HC
The bigger and thicker versions books that usually accompany theatrical releases of the characters, these two include pretty much all of Kirby’s 1960s work on these series, plus lots of others.

For 2009, the big news is the re-release of the MASTERWORKS books in $25 softcovers, monthly and following the original release order, so expect two books each of FF, Avengers and X-Men and one each of Spider-Man and Hulk. The hardcover line continues, several already on tap to include some Kirby, including a few 1940s Vision stories never before reprinted. The X-MEN OMNIBUS will include close to all of Kirby’s contribution to that series.

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And from other publishers:

KIRBY – KING OF COMICS
Mark Evanier’s long-awaited art book survey of Kirby’s career. Very pretty, though not without various minor quibbles. I wouldn’t expect the even longer-awaited detailed biography for a while.

JACK KIRBY QUARTERLY #15
The original Kirby fanzine from England returns with one more issue. I haven’t seen it, but the various preview images I saw looked nice.

THE COMPLETE JACK KIRBY v5
SEX, DRUGS, AND VIOLENCE IN THE COMICS
Two new books from Greg Theakston’s Pure Imagination, with the first volume of COMPLETE in six years continuing with Kirby’s 1947 material, filling a 172-page book with just two months of his publishing output, some great stuff there. SEX, DRUGS… features three S&K crime stories among other such comics of the era, good choices, though all three available in other books as well (but I guess those old Eclipse reprints aren’t easy to find).

THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST CRIME COMICS
A single S&K Kirby, “The Money-Making Machine Swindlers” from JUSTICE TRAPS THE GUILTY #6 [1948], is included in this thick collection of crime comics from around the world, but it’s a really good one, and hasn’t been reprinted elsewhere.

The big release for 2009 should be at least the first of many new Joe Simon books reprinting some S&K material, possibly Greg Theakston’s JACK MAGIC biography of Kirby, which should be interesting, and some other stuff. I’m still hoping Image gets the 1980s Kirby material back on the schedule.

Today is the 91st anniversary of the birth of Jack Kirby.

Here’s a photo set of 91 Jack Kirby covers from throughout the years.

(Go over here if the embed thing doesn’t work)

And visit the Museum home page for more Kirby birthday links.