Bunches of recently announced upcoming Kirby. TwoMorrows brings the COLLECTED KIRBY COLLECTOR up to the end of the standard magazine format issues. All the tabloid issues are still available, so no idea if they’ll ever collect those in some format. And of course they continue with #52 (#51 should be out in a few weeks). DC collects Kirby’s dozen issues of OUR FIGHTING FORCES featuring The Losers, some great stuff in there. Marvel starts a softcover version of their Masterworks line. A few pages of Kirby inked by Ditko in that first release, obviously expect much more Kirby in other probable releases. The old Masterworks hardcover line is still catching some strays, like one Kirby story and a bunch of covers in the second Human Torch volume. And the original X-Men get a thick OMNIBUS volume collecting all of the issues with Kirby pencils and layouts and beyond, including almost all the covers he had a hand in.

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COLLECTED JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR - Volume 7
288 page Trade Paperback - Edited by John Morrow

This seventh trade paperback completes the compilations of the first thirty regular-size issues of The Jack Kirby Collector, the critically acclaimed magazine about Kirby’s life and career. This volume reprints Jack Kirby Collector #27-30, with in-depth looks at Jack’s 1970s Marvel Comics work, and his ’80s work in comics and animation, plus a special two-part focus on how widespread Kirby’s influence is! It features rare interviews with Kirby himself, plus new interviews with Watchmen’s ALAN MOORE and DAVE GIBBONS, NEIL GAIMAN, Bone’s JEFF SMITH, MARK “Luke Skywalker” HAMILL, and others! See page after page of rare Kirby art, including a NEW special section with over 30 pieces of Kirby art never before published, and more! Edited by John Morrow.
ISBN-13: 978-1-605490-12-0
ISBN-10: 1-605490-12-1
$29.95 US

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THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #52
Winter 2009 - 84 pages - Tabloid Format

This issue spotlights Kirby Obscura, uncovering some of Jack’s most obscure work! Learn about such little-known projects as an unused Thor story, his unseen Bruce Lee comic, his animation work, his stage play, and see original unaltered versions of pages from Kamandi, Demon, Destroyer Duck, and more! It also includes a feature examining the last page of his final issue of various series before editorial tampering (complete with lots of surprises)! There’s also Mark Evanier’s regular column about his former boss, two huge Kirby pencil art galleries, a complete Golden Age Kirby story, a color Kirby front cover inked by DON HECK, and a color back cover inked by PAUL SMITH! Edited by John Morrow.
$10 US

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THE LOSERS BY JACK KIRBY HC
Written by Jack Kirby
Art by Jack Kirby, D. Bruce Berry & Mike Royer
Cover by Jack Kirby & Mike Royer

For the first time, Jack Kirby’s tales of World War II are collected! In 1974, while Jack Kirby was hard at work on such mind-bending epics as MISTER MIRACLE and KAMANDI, he also created a series of stories that drew on his own experiences in World War II. Starring DC war heroes Johnny Cloud, Captain Storm, Gunner and Sarge, this volume features stories in which The Losers stop a German attack using a tactic found in a comic book, German and American athletes who faced each other at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin meet again on the field of combat, and much more! Don’t miss this amazing collection of tales from OUR FIGHTING FORCES #151-162, and featuring a foreword by best-selling author Neil Gaiman (THE SANDMAN).

on sale March 11
240 pg, FC, $39.99 US

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THE X-MEN OMNIBUS VOL. 1 HC
Written by STAN LEE & ROY THOMAS
Penciled by JACK KIRBY, JAY GAVIN,
WERNER ROTH & JACK SPARLING
Covers by JACK KIRBY & ALEX ROSS

In 1963 the slow boil of the Marvel super-hero revolution exploded in a full eruption with a slate of new heroic adventurers that redefined comic-book adventure forever. Joining the Fantastic Four, the Amazing Spider-Man, Ant-Man, Hulk, Thor, Iron Man and Dr. Strange came the Avengers and an odd sister book featuring a weird assortment of brand new characters: Cyclops, the Beast, Iceman, the Angel, Marvel Girl, and the mysteriously-named Professor X. They were the X-Men, and little did anyone know that they would come to take the comic book business by storm. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby billed their new creations “The Strangest Super-Heroes of All!” and while their mutant powers were certainly weird, the binding concept of this band of heroes, a group feared, hunted and hated because the of prejudice of their fellow man was pure Marvel relevance, striking at the heart of Civil Rights battles of the time. So join us as we collect in this massive, painstakingly restored, archival volume as we recount the earliest adventures of the world’s most-famous super-hero team as they encounter for the very first time their nemesis Magneto, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, the Juggernaut, Ka-Zar and the Savage Land, Master Mold and the Sentinels, and many more of Marvel’s greatest heroes and villains. Supplemented with a bevy of behind-the-scenes bonus material, critical and historical essays, and original artwork, this volume is a bona fide must-have for each and every X-addict! Collecting THE X-MEN #1-31.
768 PGS./All Ages …$99.99
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2958-5

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MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN VOL. 1 TPB
Written by STAN LEE
Penciled by STEVE DITKO with JACK KIRBY
Cover by JACK KIRBY & STEVE DITKO

Celebrate Marvel’s 70th anniversary by experiencing the tales of the world’s most-famous super heroes from the very beginning! The Marvel Masterworks have brought readers deluxe hardcover collections of Marvel’s classics from the Golden Age, Atlas Era, and the mighty Marvel Age, and now you can join in the Masterworks excitement with our new, monthly Marvel Masterworks trade paperbacks. And where better to start than where comics’ most robust line of archival comic collections began-the Amazing Spider-Man! In 1962 in the pages of a comic book slated for cancellation, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko gave birth to one of the most-enduring icons in American popular culture-the one and only Amazing Spider-Man! Turning the concept of a super hero on its head, they imbued the young, guilt-ridden Peter Parker with the fantastic powers of an arachnid and the fantastic pressures of an everyday teenager. The combination was pure magic. So join us in the following pages as we present stories of spectacular web-slinging adventure from Spidey’s very beginning including, the tragic origin that started it all, the first appearances of the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson, Doctor Octopus, the Sandman, the Vulture, Electro, and guest-star nods by the Fantastic Four and Human Torch. And to top it off, we’ve packed this volume full of bonuses galore, including the complete original artwork to Spider-Man’s Amazing Fantasy #15 origin from the Library of Congress archives! Collecting AMAZING FANTASY #15 & THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1-10.
272 PGS/All Ages …$24.99
ISBN: 978-0-7851-3692-7
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN VOL. 1 TPB - DM ONLY
272 PGS/All Ages …$24.99
ISBN: 978-0-7851-3693-4

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MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE HUMAN TORCH VOL. 2 HC
Written by STAN LEE & LARRY IVIE
Penciled by DICK AYERS, BOB POWELL, CARL BURGOS & JACK KIRBY
Cover by JACK KIRBY

Hot dog! It’s a treat, the swingin’ ’60s solo adventures of the Human Torch come to cacophonous conclusion in this much-demanded Masterworks milestone! Written by the one-and-only sultan of the Silver Age, Stan Lee, and illustrated by the Bullen’s professor of penciling, Darlin’ Dick Ayers, these tales of the Torch (and his odd-couple partner, the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing) are bona fide and certified cover-to-cover fun! Join in as the Torch tests his mettle against the Wizard, the riotous Rabble Rouser and Plantman. Then, place your bets in the battle of fire and ice between Johnny Storm and the X-Men’s Iceman, illustrated by Jack Kirby! After that we waste no time because it’s team-up time. The Thing joins the show and wastes no time getting down to clobberin’ time vs. Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, Paste-Pot Pete, the Beetle (not those Beatles, they come later), the Mad Thinker and the Puppet Master. And before we close it all down comes…the Watcher! Guest-staring the Amazing Spider-Man, the X-Men, four guys named John, Paul, George and Ringo, and if that doesn’t sell you on it, then I’ve got five words that will: “Thing in a Beatle wig.” That’s it! We stuck a fork in ya. So reserve that copy today, True Believer! Collecting STRANGE TALES #118-134
256 PGS./All Ages …$54.99
ISBN: 978-0-7851-3505-0
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE HUMAN TORCH VOL. 2 HC - VARIANT EDITION VOL. 113
256 PGS./All Ages …$54.99
ISBN: 978-0-7851-3506-7

Quite a bit in the future, but keep an eye out for more info on the 2010 release THE ART OF THE SIMON & KIRBY STUDIO from Abrams, reprinting some as yet unspecified work from the original artwork. Should be a great companion to the books Simon is releasing through Titan next year.

Coming out of the UK later this summer is JACK KIRBY QUARTERLY #15 (for those confused by the numbering, I don’t think #13 and #14 were ever widely distributed outside the UK. See comments for clarification on numbering). Copies can be pre-ordered now via ebay, and it will reportedly be available through comic shops via the usual distribution channels, but not for several months after it’s available for mail order.

ebay.co.uk link
ebay.com link

Details below, many scans of interior pages at the links.

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GET IT FIRST!
Early orders are now being taken for this landmark title, available late August

From the originating publishers of Warrior, Comics International, Halls of Horror, Comix: The Underground Revolution, Miracleman, V for Vendetta and lots of other fine stuff, comes the 15th anniversary special of the world’s first-ever magazine devoted to the work of the King of Comics: Jack Kirby.

Chrissie Harper’s Jack Kirby Quarterly #15 is a special 68-page full-sized magazine, overviewing the entire 60+ year career of the master of US comicbooks, with contributions and insight from top comics creators and specialist journalists including Kevin Eastman, Mark Evanier, Paul Gambaccini, Paul Gravett, Nigel Kitching, Peter Laird, Bob McLeod, John Morrow, Dez Skinn, William Stout, Greg Theakston and Marv Wolfman.

** Cover art by Jack Kirby and Bob McLeod

** Turtle Power! Kevin Eastman’s memories of Jack, plus Kirby’s version of TMNT

** Big Jack’s Pack: William Stout recalls one of Jack’s lesser-known art jobs

** The King of Comics and the King of Horror: Would ya believe: Kirby’s version of Dr. Phibes?!

** Opening Shots: A brief 1993 Kirby interview on Topps Comics and beyond

** Tune In, Man! Kris Brownlow looks at Kirby, drugs and hippie culture

** Kirby’s Mob: Nick Caputo dissects the crime classic In the Days of the Mob

** “I Always Tried To Do My Best”: The ULTIMATE Kirby interview, 12 fact-packed pages!

** A Final Chat: One of Kirby’s last ever interviews, January 20th 1994

** Life After Jack: Jack’s widow, Roz, speaks after Kirby’s passing in April 1994

** San Diego 1995: Convention memories with Roz, August 1995, plus a superb photo gallery

** Battle for a 3-D World: 1982 stunner by Kirby and Mike Royer (glasses not needed!)

** Twice-Told Tale: Paul Gravett investigates Lee & Kirby’s Western, Rawhide Kid

** Drag Your Battered Bones: Mike Hill’s subjective, in-depth analysis of New Gods #8

** Heroic Grandeur: Fabio P. Barbieri assesses Kirby’s place in 20th Century art

** Undiscovered Particles: James Romberger plunges into Kirby’s psychedelic interzone

** Not Quite Definitive: Karen Hellman finds DC’s Fourth World Omnibus series flawed

** He Still Rules: Marv Wolfman talks about Jack and their almost-collaboration

** Fantastic Four #1 Inker: Not-So-New News! The George Klein theory’s an old one, as Mike Lake explains

** Life and Truth: Tim Bateman reviews the philosophy of Mister Miracle #9

** London Tales: The April 2008 “Live From Kirby Plaza” event at the Institute of Contemporary Arts

** Cult Horror: Chrissie Harper examines the depths of 1983’s Silver Star #2

** Sez Dez – A Legend Hits Lucca: The return of comicdom’s best-loved column!

** Finishing School: Illustrated essay with Nigel Kitching on inking our back cover

… and even more. Hour upon hour of fascinating reading, with lots of rarely seen Kirby artwork.

This is early and of course publishing plans change, especially dates, but take a look at these books that popped up on Amazon:

Joe Simon: The Man Behind the Comics: The Illustrated Autobiography of Joe Simon (Hardcover)

The Best of the Simon and Kirby Studio (Hardcover)

Nice fat books (listed at 256 and 288 pages, respectively), safe to say these should be the Kirby publishing events of 2009.

Major Kirby release in the latest solicitations is a complete run of THE DEMON, the first time any of those stories has been reprinted except for #1 in a digest almost 30 years ago. Over at Marvel THE ETERNALS gets completed in the softcover format, FF #108, in all its cobbled together glory, shows up amidst the post-Kirby work in the Masterworks format, and i plead ignorance on why a story from TALES TO ASTONISH #13 would be in the ANNIHILATION CLASSIC hardcover. There were two Kirby stories in that issue, “I Challenged Groot” and “I Found the Abominable Snowman”. I figure Groot (an alien tree-man) is the most likely to somehow tie into recent Marvel cosmic comics, but I could be wrong.

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JACK KIRBY’S THE DEMON OMNIBUS HC
Written by Jack Kirby
Art and cover by Jack Kirby & Mike Royer

One of Jack “King” Kirby’s most memorable creations returns in this title collecting the entire, original 16-issue series from the early 1970s! Part man, part elemental fury, Etrigan the Demon was bound to Jason Blood by Merlin to defend Camelot, only to become a demonologist in the modern-day DC Universe.

on sale November 19 - 384 pg, $49.99 US

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ETERNALS BY JACK KIRBY BOOK 2 TPB
Written by JACK KIRBY
Penciled by JACK KIRBY
Cover by JACK KIRBY

A time of titans, terror and time travel - as only the King could conceive! Imagine a race of immortal beings possessed of seemingly limitless superhuman abilities including energy projection, strength and flight. Once worshipped as gods, this fantastic group left Earth to explore the stars after warring with the Greek, Roman and Norse pantheons for supremacy over mankind. In 1976, Jack Kirby introduced what was to be his final great Marvel Comics creation: the Eternals! With nearly four decades of experience creating iconic characters, Kirby stretched his imagination to the limit for his last tale. Looking beyond the familiar ground of super heroes, Kirby crafted a cosmic epic that took comic-book fans on a spectacular adventure every month. Since Kirby’s groundbreaking work, the Eternals and their malevolent counterparts, the Deviants have become vital parts of the Marvel Universe. Awarding-winning creators such as Neil Gaiman have revisited the concept, finding new levels of meaning in Kirby’s visionary work. Now, for the first time, Marvel proudly presents the entire ETERNALS series in two softcover volumes - further proof that Jack Kirby was truly the King. Collecting ETERNALS #12-19 and ANNUAL 1.
188 PGS. $24.99

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MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE FANTASTIC FOUR VOL. 11
Written by STAN LEE with ARCHIE GOODWIN
Penciled by JOHN BUSCEMA with JOHN ROMITA & JACK KIRBY
Cover by JOHN BUSCEMA

The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine marches forward with a new great artist, Big John Buscema, and the same great man - Stan “The Man,” ‘natch - in A fresh set of epic adventures as only mighty Marvel can make ‘em! It all begins when Johnny Storm’s ladylove, Crystal, must leave the polluted human world for the Inhumans’ sanctuary, but within her lies the secret solution to freeing the Thing from his rocky prison. Then, as Benjamin Grimm emerges with the power to change into the Thing at will, Reed Richards must descend into the dark of the Negative Zone to face entropic Annihilus and the mysterious Janus, the Nega-Man. But what good is controlling your powers, when you’re losing control of your mind? The Thing goes on a rampage and New York City better look out because it can only end in the biggest, the baddest, the best fist-pounding, building-toppling, earth-shaking slobbernocker in Marvel history! The ever-lovin’, blue-eyed Thing goes toe-to-toe with the gamma-powered goliath, the Incredible Hulk, and only one will walk out alive. That’s not all, though! Before the FF collect themselves, the all-powerful Over-Mind descends on the planet Earth - and you know it ain’t gonna be good for real-estate values when the Watcher shows up, too. It’s a menace so great that even the evil Doctor Doom joins forces with the FF, so reserve your copy today, True Believer - there’s plenty more classics to come! Collecting FANTASTIC FOUR #105-116.
272 PGS $54.99

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ANNIHILATION CLASSIC HC
Written by TODD DEZAGO, LARRY LIEBER, MARV WOLFMAN, MARK GRUENWALD, BILL MANTLO, DOUG MOENCH, SCOTT EDELMAN & ROY THOMAS
Penciled by DEREC AUCOIN, JACK KIRBY, JOHN BUSCEMA, JOE SINNOTT, PAUL RYAN, MIKE MIGNOLA, TOM SUTTON, MIKE ZECK & GIL KANE
Cover by JOHN BUSCEMA, PAUL RYAN, GIL KANE & MIKE MIGNOLA

Space may be a vacuum, but Annihilation didn’t pull its heroes out of nowhere! Journey through time, space and continuity with the sensational space saga’s stars! The re-making of Adam Warlock and the first look at his nemesis Thanos! See the origin of Nova and the origin of Quasar, while Bug watches the origins of >tik< EVERYBODY! Monsters, mammals and more! Collecting BUG #1, TALES TO ASTONISH #13, NOVA #1, QUASAR #1, ROCKET RACCOON #1-4, MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #6, LOGAN’S RUN #6 and MARVEL PREMIERE #1.
232 PGS. $29.99