Kirby In Print Guide

This will be a quickly annotated list of Kirby items in print (plus some out of print stuff you may still be able to find).

Purchase of the books from the Amazon.com or Tales of Wonder links provided gives a percentage of the purchase price to support the Kirby Museum. Of course most of these in-print are also available from most comic shops, and any decent bookstore should be able to order an in-print book with an ISBN.

Highly Recommended Key Books

Marvel Visionaries: Jack Kirby (Vol. 1) ISBN – 0785115749 ToW link
Marvel’s major 2004 hardcover collection of Kirby’s work through the ages, 352 pages of some great work, slightly oversized (7.5×11). You can check out my quick review from when it came out. A great book for those getting into Kirby and wanting to sample a bit of almost everything from his various stints at Marvel.

Marvel Visionaries: Jack Kirby (Vol. 2) ISBN – 0785120947 ToW link
The follow-up volume, with more of the same, now with added Devil Dinosaur. Plus a few examples of Kirby’s romance work, some key FF and Thor stories and a lot more.

Jack Kirby Reader v1 ISBN – 1566850169
Jack Kirby Reader v2 ISBN – 1566850266
Greg Theakston’s Pure Imaginations published these two volumes in 2003 and 2004, each with 160 pages of some of the best public domain Kirby work from the 1940s and 1950s. You can read my initial thoughts on v2 over here. Highly recommended to the more experienced Kirby fan looking for samples of his non-superhero work, with a good sampling of crime and romance. Unfortunately not available through most on-line sellers, you can order them from Last Gasp or from Midnight Enterprises. Most of PI’s COMPLETE KIRBY seem to be out of print, though Last Gasp appears to have one of the hardcovers right now, and Bud Plant and others have the recent THE COMIC STRIP JACK KIRBY.

Fantastic Four Omnibus ISBN – 0785118705 ToW link
Marvel’s latest reprint format, this slightly oversized (7.5×11) massive hardcover reprints FF #1 – #30 and Annual #1 with all the original letter columns and some other features in one fat 848 page book. If you don’t otherwise have this material in a permanent format and really want the colour, this is a reasonable way to get it in one shot.

The Comics Journal Library: Jack Kirby ISBN – 1560974346 ToW link
A collection of various Kirby related interviews and articles which appeared in THE COMICS JOURNAL over the years, including his long and controversial late 1980s interview. While a bit of a flawed book in a lot of ways (with an over-emphasis on his disagreements with Marvel over art returns, and a generally weak selection of articles) it gives a good overview of Kirby’s career and contains a wealth of great artwork (in particular a few colour reproductions of Kirby’s letters home from the war).

TwoMorrows
The Jack Kirby Collector
TwoMorrows’ magazine devoted to Kirby is still going strong after over a decade, starting as a small 16-page magazine with black and white covers, getting colour covers with #8 and moving to tabloid size with #31, that format continuing to today, and they’ve probably done more than anyone else in keeping Kirby’s name and art in the spotlight. The early issues are sold out, but reprinted in the collections listed below. Most of the others are available for ordering at the above site, as are subscriptions and the books listed below. Their other fanzines (ALTER EGO, COMIC BOOK ARTIST v1, BACK ISSUE) also frequently had Kirby related content.

Collected Jack Kirby Collector, Vol. 1 ISBN – 1893905004 ToW link
Collected Jack Kirby Collector, Vol. 2 ISBN – 1893905012 ToW link
Collected Jack Kirby Collector, Vol. 3 ISBN – 1893905020 ToW link
Collected Jack Kirby Collector, Vol. 4 ISBN – 1893905322 ToW link
Collected Jack Kirby Collector, Vol. 5 ISBN – 1893905578 ToW link
Collectively reprinting the first 22 sold-out issues of the magazine, each with a few dozen additional images not included in the original issues.

Kirby Unleashed
This tabloid sized 2004 re-issue of the early 1970s portfolio (with a lot of additional and updated material) is beautiful and a bargain at the price they’re asking for it.

Kirby Checklist
A massive undertaking from 1998, indexing nearly all of Kirby’s work, an essential guide for Kirby fans, and with a lot of great spot illustrations.

Captain Victory Graphite Edition
Reprinted from copies of the pencils, this is the original 1970s CAPTAIN VICTORY graphic novel that was modified to form the first few issues of the on-going series.

Silver Star Graphite Edition ISBN – 1893905551 ToW link
Reprinting the complete six issue mini-series from the 1980s, direct from copies of Kirby’s pencils where available, plus Kirby’s screenplay treatment for a film version of the story and other artwork in a 160-page book.

Streetwise ISBN – 1893905047
Reprints the great Kirby autobiographical short story “Street Code“, which also serves as the springboard for other cartoonists doing autobio shorts.

Fourth World in b&w
DC’s current version of the Fourth World books collects the contents of the three main books in four tradepaperbacks. These books are black and white with greytones added, which got a mixed at best reaction from most fans. I thought they were okay but could have been better. They’re still a very affordable way to get some great comics. Note that DC has announced plans to reprint the material in colour hardcovers, in chronological order and including the unreprinted 1980s stuff, beginning in 2007.
Jack Kirby’s New Gods ISBN – 1563893851
Jack Kirby’s Forever People ISBN – 1563895102 ToW link
Jack Kirby’s Mister Miracle ISBN – 1563894572 ToW link
Jack Kirby’s Fourth World (MM v2) ISBN – 1563897237 ToW link

1970s Kirby in Colour
The last few years have seen a decent number of quality releases of Kirby’s 70s work in paperback from both DC and Marvel in full colour standard comic size (6.5×10).

Jimmy Olsen by Jack Kirby v1 ISBN – 1563899841 ToW link
SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #133 – #141
plus unused cover inked by Steve Rude and introduction by Mark Evanier

Jimmy Olsen by Jack Kirby v2 ISBN – 1401202594 ToW link
SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #142 – #148
plus unused cover inked by Al Milgrom, three pencil pages before the Superman/Jimmy heads were changed and introduction by Mark Evanier

Captain America and the Falcon: Madbomb ISBN – 0785115579 ToW link
CAPTAIN AMERICA #193 – #200
plus several uninked covers from those issues

Captain America: Bicentennial Battles ISBN – 0785117261 ToW link
CAPTAIN AMERICA #201 – #205
BICENTENNIAL BATTLES tabloid (reduced to regular comic size)

Captain America and the Falcon: The Swine ISBN – 0785120785 ToW link
CAPTAIN AMERICA #206 – #214, Annual #3 – #4
Finishing Kirby’s 1970s run on the series

Black Panther by Jack Kirby v1 ISBN – 0785116877 ToW link
BLACK PANTHER #1 – #7
plus various unused covers/pages

Black Panther by Jack Kirby v2 ISBN – 0785120696 ToW link
BLACK PANTHER #8 – #13
Finishing Kirby’s run, the last issue is the non-Kirby conclusion to the story.

Eternals by Jack Kirby ISBN – 0785122052 ToW link
ETERNALS #1 – #19, Annual #1
Complete series in one oversized hardcover volume

Marvel Essentials
“Essentials” are Marvel’s name for their thick black and white tradepaperbacks (originally about 500 pages each, new editions routinely over 600) collecting large runs of various books/characters from the beginning. These are regular comic sized (6.5×10) books. The reproduction quality varies. Generally sharp, but then sometimes for anywhere from a page to a whole story you’ll get something that looks like a photocopy of a printed comic. Anyway, they’re the most affordable way to read most of Kirby’s 1960s material. The books tend to fall out of print for long periods sometimes, but most are currently available.These volumes have substantial (sometimes all) Kirby art.

The following have trivial amounts of Kirby (covers, under two dozen story pages)
Essential Avengers v2 ISBN – 078510741X ToW link
Essential Captain America v3 ISBN – 0785121668 ToW link
Essential Daredevil v2 ISBN – 0785114629 ToW link
Essential Defenders v2 – ISBN 0785121501 ToW link
Essential Doctor Strange v1 ISBN – 0785108165 ToW link
Essential Ghost Rider v2 ISBN – 0785121641 ToW link
Essential Iron Man v2 ISBN – 0785114874 ToW link
Essential Marvel Two-in-One v1 ISBN – 0785117296 ToW link
Essential Moon Knight v1 ISBN – 0785120920 ToW link
Essential Nova v1 ISBN – 0785120939 ToW link
Essential Spider-Man v1 ISBN – 0785109889 ToW link
Essential Spider-Man v2 ISBN – 078510299X ToW link
Essential Classic X-Men v2 ISBN – 0785121161 ToW link

More Essentials
Tales of Wonder’s full selection of Essentials, including non-Kirby ones.

Marvel Masterworks
This has been Marvel’s primary hardcover reprint vehicle for the past two decades, with over 70 volumes, about half with substantial Kirby content (over a dozen story pages) and another handful with minor Kirby. These are colour hardcover books, regular comic sized (about 7×10). They re-issued and slightly “re-mastered” all the original volumes in the past few years, sometimes improving reproduction and colouring or moving issues around to more logical positions (Annuals where they belong in continuity, pinups in proper position). The books were sold with two types of dustjackets, a limited edition that copies the original format from the 1980s (full series numbering, marble design, gold embossed borders), most of which are out of print now, and the regular editions (2nd edition), most of which are available at any given time. The easiest place to find them on-line and being sure of getting the edition you want is Tales of Wonder. The links below are to the regular editions.
2 — Fantastic Four #1-10 ToW link
3 — X-Men #1-10 ToW link
4 — Avengers #1-10 ToW link
6 — Fantastic Four #11-20, Annual #1 ToW link
7 — X-Men #11-21 ToW link
8 — Incredible Hulk #1-6 ToW link
9 — Avengers #11-20 ToW link
13 — Fantastic Four #21-30 ToW link
14 — Captain America – Tales of Suspense #59-81 ToW link
18 — Thor – Journey Into Mystery #83-100 ToW link
19 — Silver Surfer #7-18 ToW link
20 — Iron Man – Tales of Suspense #39-50 ToW link
21 — Fantastic Four #31-40, Annual #2 ToW link
25 — Fantastic Four #41-50, Annual #3 ToW link
26 — Thor – Journey Into Mystery #101-110 ToW link
28 — Fantastic Four #51-60, Annual #4
29 — Daredevil #12-21 ToW link
30 — Thor – Journey Into Mystery #111-120, Annual #1 ToW link
32 — Sub-Mariner – Tales to Astonish #70-87 ToW link
34 — Fantastic Four #61-71, Annual #5
39 — Hulk – Tales to Astonish #59-79 ToW link
42 — Fantastic Four #72-81, Annual #6 ToW link
43 — [Golden Age] Captain America Comics #1-4 ToW link
46 — Captain America – Tales of Suspense #82-99, Captain America #100 ToW link
52 — Thor – JiM/Thor #121-130 ToW link
53 — Fantastic Four #82-93 ToW link
55 — [Golden Age] All-Winners Comics #1-4 ToW link
56 — Hulk – Tales to Astonish #80-101, Incredible Hulk #102 ToW link
57 — [Atlas Era] Tales to Astonish #1-#10 ToW link
58 — Sgt. Fury #1 – #13 ToW link
59 — Ant-Man/Giant-Man – Tales to Astonish #27, #35-#52 ToW link
62 — Fantastic Four #94-#104 ToW link
63 — Rawhide Kid #17-#26 ToW link
64 — Captain America #101-#113 ToW link
66 — Human Torch – Strange Tales #101-#117, Annual #2 ToW link
68 — [Atlas Era] Tales of Suspense #1-#10 ToW link
69 — Thor #131 – #140, Annual #2 ToW link

In addition, trivial amounts of Kirby (covers, under a dozen story pages or layouts) appear in these:
1 — Spider-Man #1-10 ToW link
15 — Silver Surfer #1-6, FF Annual #5 backup ToW link
16 — Spider-Man #31-40, Annual #2 ToW link
17 — Daredevil #1-11 ToW link
27 — Avengers #21-30 ToW link
31 — X-Men #22-31 ToW link
35 — X-Men #32-42 ToW link
38 — Avengers #31-40 ToW link
45 — Iron Man – Tales of Suspense #51-65 ToW link
49 — Doctor Strange – Strange Tales #142-168 (plus earlier covers) ToW link
65 — Iron Man – Tales of Suspense #66-83 ToW link
74 — Daredevil #33-41 (plus FF #73) ToW link
76 — USA Comics #1-#4 ToW link

Of related interest
Maximum Fantastic Four ISBN – 078511792X ToW link
Coffeetable book which reprints FF #1, blowing up each panel to full or double page size, and including some extras. Got mixed reviews.

DC Archives
DC’s Archives series are colour hardcover books, similar in format to the Masterworks.

Challengers Archives v1 ISBN – 1563899973 ToW link
the SHOWCASE tryout issues (#6 – #7, #11 – #12) and CotU #1 – #2

Challengers Archives v2 ISBN – 1401201539 ToW link
CotU #3 – #8 (last Kirby issue)

Kamandi Archives v1 ISBN – 1401204147 ToW link
KAMANDI #1 – #10

Kamandi Archives v2 ISBN – 1401212085 ToW link
KAMANDI #11 – #20

Shazam Archives v2 ISBN – 1563895218 ToW link
includes CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES #1 by Simon&Kirby

All-Star Archives v3 ISBN – 1563893703 ToW link
includes the S&K Sandman short story from ALL-STAR #14
All-Star Archives v4 ISBN – 1563894335 ToW link
includes the S&K Sandman short stories from ALL-STAR #15 – #17
All-Star Archives v5 ISBN – 1563894971 ToW link
includes the S&K Sandman short story from ALL-STAR #19

Misc partial Kirby books

Marvel

Spider-Man – Saga of the Sandman TPB ISBN – 0785124977 ToW link
Reprints FF #61, one of Kirby’s stories with the villain in question

Marvel Romance TPB ISBN – 0785120890 ToW link
Five short stories from around 1960, plus lots of non-Kirby stuff from the 1960s and 1970s.
Best of the Fantastic Four, Vol. 1 ISBN – 0785117822 ToW link
About a third of this 350 page hardcover is Kirby, including FANTASTIC FOUR #1, #39 – 40, #51, #100

Fantastic Firsts ISBN – 0785108238
A thick tradepaperback collecting various first appearances, about half of this book is by Jack Kirby. Mostly familiar standards, but notable as (at the time) the only modern reprints of the first issue of SGT. FURY and the first SHIELD story from STRANGE TALES #135.

Fantastic Four – The Movie ISBN – 0785118098 ToW link
The movie adaptation and some reprints, including FF #5 (first Doctor Doom)

Marvel Monsters (hardcover) ISBN – 0785121412 ToW link
Four monster reprints among various new revivals of the characters.

Marvel Westerns (hardcover) ISBN – 078512280X ToW link
Various western reprints among new revivals of the characters

Stan Lee Meets (hardcover) ISBN – 0785122729 ToW link
Two Kirby FF reprints (#79 and #87) among some new stories and other reprints

Marvel Visionaries: Stan Lee (Vol. 1) ISBN – 0785116931 ToW link
Kirby’s represented by three stories in this issue, most notably his final issue of THOR which has yet to be reprinted anywhere else.

Marvel Weddings ISBN – 0785116869 ToW link
This collection includes the wedding of Reed and Sue from FF ANNUAL #3.

What If Classic Vol. 2 ISBN – 0785118438 ToW link
Reprints six issues of the 1970s series, including Kirby’s full issue (#11) and his one other published cover (#9).

Incredible Hulk – Transformations ISBN – 0785102620 ToW link
This includes the oft-reprinted 3-page Hulk origin from THE INCREDIBLE HULK #3.

Marvel Visionaries – Gil Kane ISBN – 0785108882 ToW link
Includes Gil Kane’s first work at Marvel, a Hulk story from TALES TO ASTONISH #76 where he worked over Kirby layouts. No other Kirby, but hey, over 200 pages of Gil Kane.

Bring Back the Bad Guys ISBN – 0785105913 ToW link
About one-third Kirby reprints including X-MEN #4, AVENGERS #8, STRANGE TALES #89 and THOR #169 (origins of Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Kang, Fin Fang Foom and Galactus).

Avengers – Kang Time and Time Again ISBN – 0785118209 ToW link
Includes THOR #140, where Thor battles Kang’s minion the Growing Man.

Champions Classics v1 ISBN – 0785120971 ToW link
Includes Kirby’s only cover (#6) from the 1970s series

DC Comics

Showcase Presents Challengers of the Unknown v1 ISBN – 1401210872 ToW link
Kirby’s dozen issues in black and white, plus the following 10 non-Kirby issues reprinted for the first time.

Showcase Presents Green Arrow v1 ISBN – 1401207855 ToW link
All eleven of Kirby’s GA stories from the 1950s, and the next decade worth of stories after that, mostly by Lee Elias, in black and white.

Superman in the Seventies ISBN – 1563896389 ToW link
Contains JIMMY OLSEN #133, Kirby’s first issue

DC Universe Christmas ISBN – 1563896400 ToW link
This 2000 collection from DC reprints various Christmas stories, of course, with S&K being represented by the Sandman story “Santa Fronts for the Mob”.

Pulp Fiction Library – Mystery In Space ISBN – 1563894947 ToW link
This volume published by DC in 1999 contains 33 science-fiction stories from their long publishing history. Kirby is represented twice, you can read about it in this post.

Showcase Presents – House of Mystery v1 ISBN – 1401207863 ToW link
One black-and-white reprint from the 1950s, as reprinted in the early 1970s run of the anthology. Read about it here.

Showcase Presents – House of Mystery v2 ISBN – 1401212387 ToW link
Another black and white reprint of a reprint from the 1950s. Read about it here.

Other Publishers
Adventures of the Fly v1 ISBN – 1879794187 ToW link
Reprints the first four issues of the 1959 Archie series, with most of the Kirby work in those issues and the Fly teaser from DOUBLE LIFE OF PRIVATE STRONG #1. My post on it is here.

New Smithsonian Book of Comic Book Stories – From Crumb to Clowes ISBN – 1588341836
This 2004 collection is a massive survey of American comic books from the 1960s on. It seems to have gotten mixed at best reviews, but anyway, it includes FANTASTIC FOUR #21 in black and white.

Modern Arf ISBN – 1560976292 ToW link
The first of Craig Yoe’s anthologies of modern art themes in the comics features Kirby’s 1950s story “The Fourth Dimension is a Many Splattered Thing”, reprinted from the original art, in crisp clean black-and-white, among other things.

Biographical

The Comic Book Makers (Joe Simon autobio) ISBN – 1887591354
Written with his son Jim Simon, this is a great collection of reflections on Simon’s long career in comics and the many people he knew. As you’d expect, the bulk of the book is about work done with Jack Kirby over their decades of partnership, with a lot of artwork and related material printed, some of it previously unpublished, including an unpublished Boy Explorers story, unused Stuntman double page splashes and a reprint from BLACK MAGIC. The first edition was published in 1990 by Crestwood II, the link is the revised edition published in 2003 by Vanguard.

Will Eisner’s Shop Talk ISBN – 156971536X ToW link
A collection of Will Eisner’s discussions with fellow creators, mostly reprinted from his WILL EISNER QUARTERLY or SPIRIT MAGAZINE, including Jack Kirby and Joe Simon in seperate interviews from the early 1980s.

Masters of American Comics ISBN – 030011317X
The catalog of the MOCA art exhibition that opened in LA and will be going on tour, Kirby is one of fifteen artists given the spotlight in the show, and this book has some of the artwork shown and some biographical material and critical appraisals.

Tales to Astonish (Ronin Ro bio, HC) ISBN – 1582343454 ToW link
Tales to Astonish (Ronin Ro bio, TPB) ISBN – 158234566X
The 2004 pop biography of Kirby, a useful collection of anecdotes put in order, with some flaws. Worth reading, you can check out my quick review.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us Out of Print
Here are a few books that are currently out of print. You may be able to order copies second-hand.

Art of Jack Kirby ISBN – 0963446703
Blue Bolt ISBN – 1885730403
Boys’ Ranch ISBN – 087135859X
Bring On The Bad Guys (revised) ISBN – 0785105972
Captain America – The Classic Years v1 ISBN – 078510660X
Captain America – The Classic Years v2 ISBN – 0785107436
Complete Jack Kirby v1 ISBN – 1566850061
Complete Jack Kirby v2 ISBN – 1566850063
Complete Jack Kirby v3 ISBN – unknown
Complete Jack Kirby v4 ISBN – 1566850088
David Copperfield’s Tales of the Impossible ISBN – 0061052280
Fighting American – ISBN – 0871356007
Golden Age of Marvel v1 ISBN – 0785105646
Golden Age of Marvel v2 ISBN – 0785107134
Grandson of Origins ISBN – 078510593X
Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told ISBN – 0930289390
Greatest Villains of the Fantastic Four ISBN – 0785100792
Hulk – Beauty and the Behemoth ISBN – 0785106596
Jack Kirby Treasury v2 ISBN – 1560601345
Jack Kirby’s Heroes and Villains Black Magic Edition ISBN – 1566850029
Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD ISBN – 0785107479
Origins of Marvel Comics (revised) ISBN – 0785105794
Real Love: The Best of the Simon and Kirby Love Comics ISBN – 0913035637
Silver Surfer – The Coming of Galactus ISBN – 087135957X
Sky Masters of the Space Force ISBN – 1566850096
Son of Origins of Marvel Comics (revised) ISBN – 078510559X
Villainy of Doctor Doom ISBN – 0785107320

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