The long-planned Lisa Kirby / Mike Thibodeaux GALACTIC BOUNTY HUNTERS project, with some characters created by Jack Kirby (including Captain Victory), finally has a publishing home announced, some start-up in New York called Marvel, and should be out as a six-issue series starting this summer. Don’t know how much actual Jack Kirby art there’ll be in it.
Crazy month for Marvel on Kirby reprints, with lots of early 1960s westerns in various formats (presumably lots of overlap), the last ESSENTIAL FF and a rather expensive complete ETERNALS hardcover. And that CHAMPIONS collection should have a single Kirby cover, for a more trivial entry.
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: RAWHIDE KID VOL. 1
Written by STAN LEE
Penciled by JACK KIRBY, DON HECK, DICK AYERS & PAUL REINMAN
Cover by JACK KIRBY
Saddle up, buckaroos! It’s time for the Marvel Masterworks to tame the wild, wild West with the one and only Rawhide Kid! Back before Stan “The Man” and “King” Kirby spun stories of sensational super heroes, they told the tale of a young man who bore two Colt six-shooters and his mission to bring law to the American frontier. After his Uncle Ben Bart was killed at the hands of outlaws, Johnny Bart made it his personal mission to bring justice to the town of Rawhide.
Packed full of shootouts and showdowns, renegades and rustlers, guns and girls galore, these Western yarns will be sure to please you in the Mighty Marvel Manner! We guarantee you won’t be able to hold on to your ten-gallon hat when you read the tale of the Terrible Totem, the Kid’s battle against the bank robbing Bat, and the war with Wolf Waco! Lasso your copy today, True Believer!
Collecting RAWHIDE KID #17-25.
248 PGS $49.99
ISBN: 0-7851-2117-X
ESSENTIAL FANTASTIC FOUR VOL. 5 TPB
Written by STAN LEE
Penciled by JACK KIRBY, JOHN ROMITA, JOHN BUSCEMA
Cover by JACK KIRBY
Lee and Kirby spin the classics with characters and concepts that remain among Marvel’s mainstays today! After being lorded over in Latveria by Doctor Doom, the FF face a new level of grudge match when the Thing is tapped for the fighting arena of gangster Skrulls! Featuring the enigmatic Inhumans, the Frightful Four, the Mad Thinker and other enduring opponents! Guest-starring Magneto and the Sub-Mariner! Plus: classic invasions from under the earth and under the sea!
Collects FANTASTIC FOUR #84-110 and ANNUAL #7-8.
568 PGS $16.99
ISBN: 0-7851-2162-5
ETERNALS BY JACK KIRBY HC
Written by JACK KIRBY
Penciled by JACK KIRBY
Cover by JACK KIRBY
“The Gods Are Coming Back!” Jack Kirby reveals a secret history of heroes and horrors as humanity’s cousins, the Eternals and the Deviants, vie to inherit the Earth! It’s a time of Titans, Terror and Time Travel – as only the King could conceive! Guest-starring the Incredible Hulk (or at least an unreasoning facsimile thereof)! Collects ETERNALS #1-19 and ANNUAL #1.
392 PGS. $75.00
ISBN: 0-7851-2205-2
Trim Size: Oversize
MARVEL MILESTONES: RAWHIDE KID & TWO-GUN KID
Written by STAN LEE
Penciled by JACK KIRBY & DON HECK
Cover by JACK KIRBY
Is the Rawhide Kid really a cold-blooded killer? Why do they fear his guns from Abiline to Tombstone? See how the Kid became an “outlaw” in RAWHIDE KID #17 (August 1960). Plus: What is the strange secret of Matt Hawk? Find out in TWO-GUN KID #60 (November 1962).
48 PGS. $3.99
MARVEL WESTERNS: THE TWO-GUN KID
Written by DAN SLOTT
Penciled by EDUARDO BARRETO
Cover by ERIC POWELL
“TOOTH & CLAW”
A modern day adventure with SHE-HULK reminds the TWO-GUN KID of one of his most fraught-filled yarns of yesteryear! So saddle up, pards, and ride with the Wild West Avenger as he sets his sights on some rustlers, but finds himself face-to-fang with critters that are neither man nor beast! It’s a timeless twin-barreled tale a’ terror comin’ your way courtesy a’ Dan Slott and Eduardo Barreto! Plus! A classic Kirby RAWHIDE KID tale!
48 PGS. $3.99
CHAMPIONS CLASSIC VOL. 1 TPB
Written by TONY ISABELLA, BILL MANTLO & CHRIS CLAREMONT
Penciled by DON HECK, GEORGE TUSKA, VINCE COLLETTA, BOB HALL & JOHN BYRNE
Cover by GIL KANE
Okay, a god, a demon, a spy and two mutants walk into… resulting in some of the strangest scenarios of the ’70s! It’s gods vs. heroes in the City of Angels! With mad scientists, Russian super-spies, and guest-stars from Marvel’s western and horror eras! Plus: the secrets of the Black Widow! Featuring Hawkeye! Collects CHAMPIONS #1-11.
208 PGS. $19.99
ISBN: 0-7851-2097-1
The things that come up when you look up Kirby on Amazon…
I’ll post a link to the TwoMorrows site when they have something on that book.
Also, not yet mentioned here, Marvel has ESSENTIAL FF #5, finishing Kirby’s run and beyond, the complete ETERNALS (#1-#19 and Annual) in a $75 book, and a second volume completing Kirby’s BLACK PANTHER (plus the post-Kirby issue wrapping up the Kiber story) in the coming months.
Big item this month is the tenth FF volume of MARVEL MASTERWORKS, including the last issues of Kirby’s continuous run, with a few post-Kirby issues and some other special stuff included. Also, far more minor, the second ESSENTIAL volume of the original X-Men series has a handful of covers that Kirby did the pencils or layouts for.
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE FANTASTIC FOUR VOL. 10
Written by STAN LEE
Penciled by JACK KIRBY & JOHN ROMITA
Cover by JACK KIRBY
Certifiably the World’s Greatest Comic Collaboration, the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby Fantastic Four run stands as one of the high-water marks in the history of the medium. The ten titanic years on the title laid the very foundation of the Marvel Universe, and birthed more amazing concepts and creative characters than perhaps any series before or since. In this tenth Masterworks volume, we celebrate the entire Lee/Kirby run with essays by critics, creators and luminaries in the field of comics.
But it just ain’t waxing nostalgic, True Believer! This is a Marvel comic, after all! Expect plenty of explosive action and family drama a-go-go as the FF build up to their 100th issue featuring everyone from Doc Doom to Dragon Man! They’ll also help mankind take one giant leap when the Kree’s robot Sentry tries to stop the Apollo 11 moon landing! Just for good measure, we’ll throw in the uncanny Inhumans and Attilan, and the whole shebang comes to a head when the mutant menace, Magneto, teams up with Namor in a bid to conquer the world and Nixon is not pleased!
Collecting FANTASTIC FOUR #94-104.
272 PGS./All Ages …$49.99
ISBN: 0-7851-2061-0
ESSENTIAL CLASSIC X-MEN VOL. 2
Written by ROY THOMAS, GARY FRIEDRICH & ARNOLD DRAKE
Penciled by WERNER ROTH, JACK SPARLING, DAN ADKINS, ROSS ANDRU, DON HECK, GEORGE TUSKA, JIM STERANKO, BARRY SMITH
& JOHN BUSCEMA
Cover by GIL KANE
Enemies both infamous and obscure abound in another archive of the X-Men’s early adventures! Mainstay malefactors like Magneto and the Juggernaut are joined by the thunderous threat of Factor Three! Plus: the first appearances of Banshee and Polaris! Mimic vs. the Super-Adaptoid! Subterranean civil war! The X-Men’s first individualistic uniforms! The return of a Golden Age great…and the death of Professor X!? Guest-starring Spider-Man, Doctor Strange and the Avengers! Featuring Ogre of Thunderbolts fame! Collects X-MEN #25-53 and AVENGERS #53.
632 PGS./All Ages …$16.99
ISBN: 0-7851-2116-1
Details on another issue of the KIRBY COLLECTOR are up on the TwoMorrows site. Looks like a lot of fun for the Fourth World fans.
THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #46
80 pages – Tabloid Format
He’s got the whole Fourth World in his hands in JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #46, as this issue focuses on Kirby’s FOREVER PEOPLE, NEW GODS, and perhaps Jack’s greatest villain, Darkseid! Also included is a rare interview with KIRBY, MARK EVANIER’s regular column, two FOURTH WORLD pencil art galleries (including Kirby’s redesigns for SUPER POWERS), a never-reprinted 1950s story, an interview with Kirby Award winner and family friend MARTY LASICK, a new Kirby Darkseid front cover inked by MIKE ROYER, a Kirby Forever People back cover inked by JOHN BYRNE, and more! Edited by John Morrow.
As previously mentioned TwoMorrows has another book to add to your COLLECTED JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR collection. And Greg Theakston has another book scheduled (I’ll try to get an update on COMPLETE v5), this one of some of Kirby’s earliest work, which was just sampled in the earlier COMPLETE KIRBY v1.
Collected Jack Kirby Collector – Volume 5
Edited by John MorrowReprints JKC #20, 21 & 22 plus 30 pieces of Kirby art never before published!
Kirby fans demanded more, so this fifth volume is a gargantuan 224-page trade paperback, reprinting the sold-out issues #20-22 of The Jack Kirby Collector, the critically-acclaimed magazine for Kirby fans! Included are the “Kirby’s Women,” “Wackiest Work,” and “Villains” issues, featuring three unseen interviews with Jack Kirby, plus new ones with Jack’s daughter LISA KIRBY, and industry pros DAVE STEVENS, GIL KANE, BRUCE TIMM STEVE RUDE, and MIKE MIGNOLA! PLUS: see a complete ten-page unpublished Kirby story still in pencil! Jack’s mind-blowing original pencils to FANTASTIC FOUR #49 (from the fabled Galactus trilogy)! An analysis comparing Kirby’s margin notes to Stan Lee’s dialogue on classic Marvel comics! And a NEW special section with over 30 pieces of Kirby art never before published, including Jack’s uninked pencils from The Demon, Forever People, Jimmy Olsen, Kamandi, Eternals, Captain America, Black Panther, and more! With page after page of rare Kirby art (much in its original pencil form), and a dynamite KIRBY/DAVE STEVENS cover, it’s a celebration of the most prolific creator in comics history: Jack “King” Kirby!
Softcover, 8×11, 224pgs, B&W $25
THE COMIC STRIP JACK KIRBY VOLUME 1 TP
by Jack Kirby
160 pages of Jack Kirby’s earliest work, including the rarest of rare examples of “Your Health Comes First,” “Facts You Never Knew,” editorial cartoons, Socko the Seadog, and the complete Blue Beetle. These are impossible to find, and collected for your reading pleasure in one package. An introduction by Kirby historian Greg Theakston.
Softcover, 8×11, 160pgs, B&W $25
Over on the Marvel Masterworks Message Board a Marvel editor has posted the contents of the upcoming MARVEL ROMANCE collection. A little bit less Kirby than I was hoping for (since they only include a Colan story from LOVE ROMANCES #101, none of the three Kirby stories), but still five stories, four never reprinted, one not in over 30 years, so that’s okay, as is the healthy amount of Colan and Buscema work. And apparently some of this art is taken from some recently discovered original art, so it should look sharp.
“The Summer Must End!”
From Teen-Age Romance #84 (November 1961)
“By Love Betrayed!”
“Give Back My Heart!”
From Love Romances #102 (November 1962)
“The Dream World of Doris Wilson!”
“If Your Heart I Break—”
From Love Romances #103 (January 1963)
TwoMorrows has just put this book up on their website, scheduled for April 2006.
Collected Jack Kirby Collector – Volume 5
224 page Trade Paperback – Edited by John Morrow
Reprints JKC #20, 21 & 22 plus 30 pieces of Kirby art never before published!
Kirby fans demanded more, so this fifth volume is a gargantuan 224-page trade paperback, reprinting the sold-out issues #20-22 of The Jack Kirby Collector, the critically-acclaimed magazine for Kirby fans! Included are the “Kirby’s Women,” “Wackiest Work,” and “Villains” issues, featuring three unseen interviews with Jack Kirby, plus new ones with Jack’s daughter LISA KIRBY, and industry pros DAVE STEVENS, GIL KANE, BRUCE TIMM STEVE RUDE, and MIKE MIGNOLA! PLUS: see a complete ten-page unpublished Kirby story still in pencil! Jack’s mind-blowing original pencils to FANTASTIC FOUR #49 (from the fabled Galactus trilogy)! An analysis comparing Kirby’s margin notes to Stan Lee’s dialogue on classic Marvel comics! And a NEW special section with over 30 pieces of Kirby art never before published, including Jack’s uninked pencils from The Demon, Forever People, Jimmy Olsen, Kamandi, Eternals, Captain America, Black Panther, and more! With page after page of rare Kirby art (much in its original pencil form), and a dynamite KIRBY/DAVE STEVENS cover, it’s a celebration of the most prolific creator in comics history: Jack “King” Kirby!
Big month, the SILVER STAR book, reprinting the entire series from Kirby’s pencils, should be interesting, more on that later. My thoughts on the VISIONARIES v2 selection are here . The hardcover for Gi/Ant-Man is surprising. It’ll be about half Kirby, including every story he drew for the feature. ESSENTIAL NOVA will have three Kirby covers.
SILVER STAR – GRAPHITE EDITION
160 page 8×11 Trade Paperback – by Jack Kirby
Legendary artist Jack Kirby first conceptualized Silver Star in the mid-1970s as a movie screenplay, complete with illustrations to sell the idea to Hollywood. Too far ahead of its time for Tinseltown, Jack instead adapted his “Visual Novel” as a six- issue mini-series for Pacific Comics in the early 1980s, making it the last original creation of his career. Now, in SILVER STAR: GRAPHITE EDITION, “King” Kirby’s final, great series is collected at last, this time reproduced from his powerful, uninked pencil art! Read the complete story of Homo-Geneticus, the New Breed of humanity that spawns both hero (Silver Star) and villain (the nefarious Darius Drumm), leading to one of the most action- packed narratives and spellbinding climaxes ever conceived on a comics page! And as a special bonus, read Kirby’s provocative screenplay, reproduced in its entirety, including illustrations and never-published character sketches! Plus there’s pin-ups and other rare Kirby art, and an historical overview to put it all in perspective. A percentage of profits from this book go to the Jack Kirby Museum and Research Center, so don’t ask, just buy it! $20.00 cover price.
MARVEL VISIONARIES: JACK KIRBY VOL. 2 HC
Written by JACK KIRBY, JOE SIMON & STAN LEE
Pencils & Cover by JACK KIRBY
Humor, horror, westerns, war, romance, espionage and, of course, super-heroic adventure…many domains, but only one King. From the Two-Gun Kid, Sgt. Fury and Agent Jimmy Woo to the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and beyond, the talent of Jack Kirby underlies the history and future of Marvel! See Captain America’s first appearance… all three of them! Witness the first Avengers/X-Men battle, and learn the origin of Professor X! Cower before Doctor Doom, wielding the power of the Silver Surfer! The Yellow Claw! Mangog! Fin Fang Foom! Otherworldly dinosaurs, mutant seagulls and more await as comicdom’s commemoration of Kirby continues!
Collects CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS #1, MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS #23, YELLOW CLAW #4, STRANGE TALES #89 and #114, TWO-GUN KID #60, LOVE ROMANCES #103, X-MEN #9, TALES OF SUSPENSE #59, SGT FURY #13, FANTASTIC FOUR #57-60, NOT BRAND ECCH #1, THOR #154-157, and DEVIL DINOSAUR #1.
344 PGS. $34.99
ISBN: 0-7851-2094-7
Trim size: Oversized
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: ANT-MAN/GIANT-MAN VOL. 1
Written by STAN LEE, LARRY LIEBER & ERNIE HART
Penciled by JACK KIRBY, DON HECK, LARRY LIEBER & DICK AYERS
Cover by JACK KIRBY
Burned under the magnifying glass of overwhelming demand, Mighty Marvel has given in to give you our smallest hero in his big Masterworks debut! Lee and Kirby’s second hero creation, scientist Hank Pym, invented an amazing growth serum and a cybernetic helmet making him the Astonishing Ant-Man! Teamed up with the winsome Wasp, the tiny twosome battle a sensational array of mini- and maxi-sized menaces from the Scarlet Beetle to the Black Knight! And if that’s not enough to occupy a man of science, he’s also defending the good ol’ U.S. of A’s secrets from the commie hordes! But we’ve got more than just miniature mayhem for you, True Believer. You can look forward to the birth of the biggest Avenger there ever was—Giant-Man—so run, don’t walk, and reserve your copy today!
Collecting TALES TO ASTONISH #27, 35-52
288 PGS. $49.99
ISBN: 0-7851-2049-1
ESSENTIAL NOVA VOL. 1 TPB
Written by MARV WOLFMAN & LEN WEIN
Penciled by JOHN BUSCEMA, SAL BUSCEMA, CARMINE INFANTINO, GENE COLAN & ROSS ANDRU
Cover by JOHN BUSCEMA
Before NEW WARRIORS, Nova was one of the seventies’ most scintillating stars and it shows! Be it murder mystery or cosmic clash, the Human Rocket rises to the occasion! Historic heroes! Futuristic fiends! War with the Skrulls! Special guest-appearances by Spider-Man, the Thing and… Moses!? Collects NOVA #1-25, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #171 and MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE ANNUAL #3.
512 PGS. $16.99
ISBN: 0-7851-2093-9
Amazon is now listing a second MARVEL VISIONARIES: JACK KIRBY volume coming out in April of 2006. Contents are:
Captain America Comics #1; Marvel Mystery Comics #23; Yellow Claw #4; Strange Tales #89, 114; Two-Gun Kid #60; Love Romances #103; X-Men #9; Tales of Suspense #59; Sgt. Fury #13; Fantastic Four #57-60; Not Brand Echh #1; Thor #154-157; Devil Dinosaur #1.
Lots of choices from CAP #1. I’m guessing the Red Skull story. MMC #23 is a Vision story I don’t think has been reprinted before. Neither has that YELLOW CLAW issue (hopefully they’ll have the full book, not just one story, although running the page counts quickly they’re not going to manage all the Kirby content of all of these issues). STRANGE TALES #89 is the oft-reprinted “Fin Fang Foom”, but it deserves it. #114 is the Torch against the fake Captain America, which hasn’t been printed in colour in a long while. TWO-GUN KID #60 is the first issue of the new version of the Kid, hopefully they’ll have both stories. LOVE ROMANCES #103 had two Kirby shorts, hopefully both will be in here. I’ve heard good things about “The Dream World of Doris Wilson”. X-MEN #9 is the Avengers guest bit, so gets a sampling of both teams into the book. ToS #59 is the first of the Cap solo run, not really the best choice from that run. FURY #13 is of course the Captain America guest issue. That run of FF is the great Doom/Surfer storyline, which is fittingly enough parodied in NOT BRAND ECHH #1 (“I own one hundred pairs of stretch socks”), and that run of THOR is the Mangog story, also great stuff. DEVIL DINOSAUR #1, excellent.
So mostly really good choices. As usual I’d have liked a bit less super-hero, more other genre, but I can’t complain about most of what was picked. Good sampling of inkers, with some Sinnott, Royer, Ayers, Giacoia, Stone, Severin, Simon. I’d gladly lose the Cap story from ToS for a pair of early Tales of Asgard shorts, especially since Cap is already in a golden age story, the Torch story, the X-Men story and the Fury story, and Ayers inking is well represented even without it. And much as I love him, I’d gladly drop Devil D. for some more 1950s stuff. Except that the 1970s should be represented somewhere, and Devil is the least likely to ever have a dedicated volume (Cap and the Panther already do, the Eternals will soon, 2001 is probably off-limits and Machine Man is much more likely than Devil). Tough call. Maybe trade Devil for two 1950s shorts (lots of good 5-pagers there) and a 1970s cover gallery, including one DD cover? Tough call with those FF and Thor epics eating up half the page count. If it were up to me I’d replace them with shorter bits (maybe a single issue and two-issue bit each, from different points in the run. Or keep the FF and replace the Thor epic with two single issues, one from the Stone inked run, one from the Everett inked run), reclaiming about 40 pages for some more short stories. Oh well, that’s what volumes 3 to 10 will be for…