The current flood of Kirby reprints and publications continued in the past year, with slightly fewer items than the last few years, but a lot of thick ones keeping the volume up there. 38 items listed below, and I know I missed a few (anyone have details on the Disney digest which reprinted some Black Hole strips?).
Highlight of the year, I’d have to go with the FOURTH WORLD OMNIBUS, with the promise of having finally having the whole epic in four matching volumes available in a few months.
TwoMorrows got out just two issues of their regular Kirby fix this year, but it was some choice stuff, including some reprints of old S&K classics.
THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #48
THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #49
The big news from DC was the FOURTH WORLD OMNIBUS line. In 2007 they reprinted most of the 1970s material, some of it reprinted in colour for the first time, and early 2008 will see the rest of that, plus the 1980s material.
JACK KIRBY’S FOURTH WORLD OMNIBUS VOL. 1
JACK KIRBY’S FOURTH WORLD OMNIBUS VOL. 2
JACK KIRBY’S FOURTH WORLD OMNIBUS VOL. 3
Some Kirby in DC’s regular reprint lines, one high-end hardcover book full of Kirby and one low-end black and white book with one reprint of a reprint among its 500+ pages
KAMANDI ARCHIVES VOL. 2 HC
SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY VOL. 2
And for a more inexpensive taste of Kirby, one special tying in with a current crossover.
COUNTDOWN SPECIAL: JIMMY OLSEN 80-PAGE GIANT
Marvel, of course, had the bulk of the Kirby printed for the year. Most of the material in BOUNTY HUNTERS was non-Kirby, but a few covers and pages were Kirby.
JACK KIRBY’S GALACTIC BOUNTY HUNTERS #4
JACK KIRBY’S GALACTIC BOUNTY HUNTERS #5
JACK KIRBY’S GALACTIC BOUNTY HUNTERS #6
JACK KIRBY’S GALACTIC BOUNTY HUNTERS HC
Marvel’s Omnibus format really took off this year, for those who like big thick books. Some never before reprinted stuff in AMAZING FANTASY and DEVIL DINOSAUR, too.
AMAZING FANTASY OMNIBUS HC
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN OMNIBUS VOL. 1 HC
DEVIL DINOSAUR BY JACK KIRBY OMNIBUS HC
FANTASTIC FOUR OMNIBUS VOL. 2 HC
SILVER SURFER OMNIBUS VOL. 1 HC
Kirby was well-represented in the old Masterworks line as well, with three volumes being primarily Kirby work, and three more with minor bits of Kirby.
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: DAREDEVIL VOL. 4 HC
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: GOLDEN AGE USA COMICS VOL. 1 HC
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: NICK FURY, AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D. VOL. 1 HC
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: RAWHIDE KID VOL. 2 HC
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE MIGHTY THOR VOL. 6 HC
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE SUB-MARINER VOL. 2 HC
Not as good a year for Kirby on the black and white Essential line, with just a few stray covers in two volumes.
ESSENTIAL DEFENDERS VOL. 3
ESSENTIAL GHOST RIDER VOL. 2
And a few more stray bits of Kirby in primarily non-Kirby books.
INVADERS CLASSIC VOL. 1 TPB
SPIDER-MAN: SAGA OF THE SANDMAN TPB
STAN LEE MEETS HC
And wrapping up Marvel’s Kirby year with some stuff showing up in that classic old stapled comic book format we all know and love.
AVENGERS CLASSIC #1 – #7
HULK VS. FIN FANG FOOM
Meanwhile, Image provided a hardcover collection of some later Kirby.
JACK KIRBY’S SILVER STAR HC
And the current copyright holder of the old Gilberton comics, Jack Lake Productions, reprinted one of Kirby’s contributions to the line.
CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED SPECIAL: THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES SC
2008 is looking good already. Evanier’s KING OF COMICS, several publications from TwoMorrows (the double sized TJKC #50, more COLLECTED KIRBY COLLECTOR, and updated Kirby checklist and more), FOURTH WORLD OMNIBUS wrapping up, OMAC, hopefully another COMPLETE KIRBY, and some other golden age stuff from Joe Simon, quite a few more Omnibus and Masterworks books from Marvel, and FF – THE LOST ADVENTURE as well, hopefully some more 1980s stuff from Image.
