Author Archives: Bob

-Link- Roundtable on Kirby and HAND OF FIRE

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The Comics Journal is hosting a roundtable discussion (part one, part two, part three) about Jack Kirby, specifically some issues raised by Charles Hatfield’s recent publication HAND OF FIRE, featuring contributions by Jeet Heer, Sarah Boxer, Robert Fiore, Glen David Gold, Doug Harvey, Jonathan Lethem, and Dan Nadel. And I just noticed that HAND OF FIRE is also available as an e-book for the Kindle and other formats, significantly more affordable (and searchable) than the print formats, so I’ll probably pick that up when I have the time to read it.

I just quickly skimmed through, since I haven’t read HAND OF FIRE yet, but I see SILVER STAR is discussed quite a bit in the roundtable, if not in the book, so a good chance to remind you that it’s available digitally from Image for just $9 (also available directly in the Comixology and Image apps). Haven’t checked it, since the three different print editions I have are enough for now, but from the page count I’m pretty sure the digital version includes the 1970s screen treatment by Kirby and Steve Sherman.

Upcoming Kirby – Challengers tryouts in SHOWCASE reprint

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Coming this summer from DC, a big black and white collection of the first 21 issues of SHOWCASE from the 1950s in the redundantly titled SHOWCASE PRESENTS SHOWCASE VOL. 1, so including the first four Challengers of the Unknown stories.  Oddly it’s currently scheduled to come out the same day as the hardcover that will reprint those four issues and the first eight issues of the regular series by Kirby.  That’s a lot of Challengers to come out in one day…

SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SHOWCASE VOL. 1 TP
Written by VARIOUS • Art by VARIOUS
Cover by GIL KANE and BERNARD SACHS
On sale JUNE 20 • 544 pg, B&W, $19.99 US
• DC’s legendary try-out title is reprinted from the start for the first time!
• Includes the debuts of the Silver Age FLASH, THE CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN and ADAM STRANGE!
• Collects SHOWCASE #1-21!

-Link- Kirby in 1975 Science Fiction anthology

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This is a neat little discovery.  FOREVER PEOPLE #1 [1971] was reprinted in a 1975 anthology LOOKING AHEAD, along with some study guide questions (Do you think the symbolism of “boom tube” and “mother box” would be lost on young readers?). Rand Hoppe has some images and excerpts.

Upcoming Kirby – CHALLENGERS Omnibus

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Coming in June from DC, a single volume hardcover of Kirby’s 1950s run on CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN in a format to match the other recent Kirby reprints from DC.  The stories were previously collected in two Archives hardcovers and in the black and white Showcase Presents format.

CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN OMNIBUS BY JACK KIRBY HC
Written by DAVE WOOD and JACK KIRBY • Art by JACK KIRBY, WALLACE WOOD, MARVIN STEIN and others • Cover by JACK KIRBY
On sale JUNE 20 • 320 pg, FC, $39.99 US
Now in one amazing volume collecting SHOWCASE 6, 7, 11 and 12 and CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN #1-8, these are the original 1950s tales of four death defying adventurers and their incredible exploits.

Upcoming Kirby – S&K Library Science Fiction and Horror volumes

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Titan has just announced the next two volumes in their SIMON & KIRBY LIBRARY series, with SCIENCE FICTION scheduled for the fall of 2012 and HORROR in 2013.

The science fiction volume will include Blue Bolt and various other 1940s and 1950s material.  The RACE FOR THE MOON stuff is especially good.  The horror book will have stories from BLACK MAGIC and STRANGE WORLD OF YOUR DREAMS.  Should be a great pair of books to go with the existing books.

2011 – A Kirby Odyssey

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Another big year for Kirby reprints and related projects in 2011, a year that sadly ended with the recent passing of Kirby’s long-time  partner Joe Simon.  Fortunately, Simon had a productive final year in his publishing partnership with Titan, including the book of the year, THE SIMON & KIRBY LIBRARY: CRIME hardcover, a massive collection of some of the best work by the duo, about half of their work in that particular genre.  There was also an affordable softcover edition of FIGHTING AMERICAN, the comedy super-hero classic and lots of stories about Kirby in Simon’s autobiography JOE SIMON: MY LIFE IN COMICS.

DC continued to get more of their Kirby work in print, with the most interesting book being  the hardcover THE JACK KIRBY OMNIBUS VOL. 1, collecting just about all of Kirby’s 1950s work for the company (other than Challengers of the Unknown), plus some stray 1940s material. All of Kirby’s Green Arrow stories and a lot of never-reprinted short stories, some inked by Kirby. There was also an $8 sampler with a selection of stories for those not ready to commit to a hardcover. Meanwhile, KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH BY JACK KIRBY VOL. 1 collected the first 20 issues of the long running 1970s series in one book, hopefully this time we’ll see the next 20 issues completing Kirby’s run come out, and for those who didn’t get the hardcovers from a few years ago, JACK KIRBY’S FOURTH WORLD OMNIBUS VOL. 1 came out in softcover, and the next three matching volumes should be out within the next year. And to be complete, there was also a trivial black and white reprint of a reprint in SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE WITCHING HOUR VOL. 1 of a 1950s story also reprinted in the KIRBY OMNIBUS VOL. 1.

TwoMorrows got out two issues of THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR in 2011, which apparently ends the tabloid sized run.  The next issue is imminent, with a complete departure from the regular format, and then a new format (standard magazine size with colour section) launches with #59.

Dynamite Entertainment began publishing new comics based on characters created and owned by Kirby under the collective title KIRBY GENESIS.  Kirby’s “Pioneer plaque” appeared as a story element in KIRBY GENESIS #0 (which is available to read free online), as did several pages of Kirby character designs, not sure if any other actual Kirby work has appeared in the line, which has expanded to include CAPTAIN VICTORY, SILVER STAR and the upcoming DRAGONSBANE. And, I did not know this until now, but apparently a digital edition of Kirby’s original SILVER STAR mini-series is available for purchase for $9.

And oddity of the year, Abrams published THE SOMEDAY FUNNIES, a massive hardcover book for which Kirby wrote and drew a 2-page story in the early 1970s.

And Greg Theakston’s PURE IMAGINATION published his two volume biography of Kirby, JACK MAGIC, in 2011.

And, as usual, Marvel published a lot of stuff, as they will continue to do in 2012.  We should also see a few more books from DC in 2012 as well, including the aforementioned softcover FOURTH WORLD books, a large reprint of Kirby’s SPIRIT WORLD from the early 1970s and a single volume hardcover edition of Kirby’s dozen CHALLENGERS issues from the 1950s.  Plus there’ll be more issue of TJKC from TwoMorrows, and hopefully Titan’s line of S&K reprints will continue, although nothing’s been announced yet. Published an upcoming books are updated here as information becomes available.

Joe Simon, R.I.P.

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Sad to hear of the passing of Joe Simon at age 98. His importance in Jack Kirby’s career is immeasurable, working together on thousands of pages of comics from 1940 to the late 1950s, co-creating features like Captain America, The Boy Commandos, The Newsboy Legion, Fighting American and Boys’ Ranch, as well as genre-defining work on crime, romance and horror comics. I’ll refer you to Harry Mendryk’s great S&K blog for an in-depth look at all facets of Simon’s career, with and without Kirby, in particular the posts in his Art Of J. Simon series. And of course, check out Simon’s recent autobiography JOE SIMON: MY LIFE IN COMICS published by Titan.

And fortunately Simon lived to see and participate in several deluxe volumes reprinting his work in the past few years, in particular these from Titan:
THE SIMON & KIRBY LIBRARY: CRIME HC [Titan]
FIGHTING AMERICAN TPB [Titan]
THE SIMON AND KIRBY SUPERHEROES HC [Titan]
THE BEST OF SIMON AND KIRBY HC [Titan]

And these from DC:
THE BOY COMMANDOS BY SIMON & KIRBY HC [DC]
THE NEWSBOY LEGION BY SIMON & KIRBY HC [DC]
SANDMAN BY SIMON AND KIRBY HC [DC]

Art above is from a Simon&Kirby cameo in a story from BOY COMMANDOS #1 [1942], as reprinted in MISTER MIRACLE #6 [1972], full page below.

New Kirby – SOMEDAY FUNNIES 2-page story

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Now available is SOMEDAY FUNNIES, Michel Choquette’s lost anthology about the 1960s, including among the many contents a previously unpublished 2-page story by Jack Kirby from the early 1970s.  You can see a sample of Kirby’s story, “The Ballad Of Beardsley Bullfeather Or Tune-In — Cop-Out And Drop-Up”, over here and read an interview with Choquette about the book (plus another sample of Kirby’s art) over here. Looks like an interesting book overall, in addition to the Kirby pages.

…and updating, Rand Hoppe shares photocopies of the pencils to the story (with some differences in the script) from the Kirby Museum files.

-Link- HAND OF FIRE by Hatfield

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Charles Hatfield has a book coming up in January 2012 from the University Press of Mississippi called HAND OF FIRE: THE COMICS ART OF JACK KIRBY, a 300 page exploration of some key aspects of Kirby’s work through the years.  Should be an interesting read.  Hatfield has a site up for the book, with a contents page and more to come, the publisher has a page with some more details and you can pre-order a copy at Amazon.

New Kirby – S&K CRIME and more

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Just got my copy of THE SIMON AND KIRBY LIBRARY: CRIME hardcover published by Titan, with over 300 pages of vintage S&K comics, mostly published from 1947-1949 (with a pair of later Mainline stories).  Copies should be making their way through all standard channels, including comic shops and bookstores, in the next few weeks.  A gorgeous book, with a lot of action-packed and violent adventures of criminals and the law-enforcement professionals tasked with their capture.  Because as you know, “Commit a crime and the world is made of glass”.

Also apparently showing up in comic shops this week is DC’s DC COMICS PRESENTS THE JACK KIRBY OMNIBUS SAMPLER #1, for those who didn’t want to commit to the recent THE JACK KIRBY OMNIBUS VOL. 1 – STARRING GREEN ARROW hardcover sight unseen a marginally cheaper way to get a look at about a third of the book.  And Pure Imagination has the second and final volume of Greg Theakston’s JACK MAGIC biography of Jack Kirby.

And, since a couple of people asked, I’m currently not mentioning Marvel books in the new/upcoming Kirby posts, for the moment I’m still listing them on the announcement page if you’re curious about them.