Our Fighting Forces #159 [1975] – Mile-a-Minute Jones

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This issue features the Losers on a mission in Italy, sent to capture a Nazi general. They encounter Henry Jones, a black American soldier who was in the 1936 Olympics, and his competitor in that race, the German soldier Bruno Borman. The story ends with a great foot race through a mine-field. A lot of fun stuff in here, especially the art which is full of great Kirby action poses, especially anything with Jones in action.

Our Fighting Forces #159 [1975]

Mike Royer inks the 18-page story and D. Bruce Berry inks the cover.

Published 1975

Upcoming Kirby – March 2006

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Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.usBig 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.


Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.usMARVEL 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

The Avengers #152 [1976] – Cover

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Some nice skeleton action on this cover, very moody. I’m not sure what’s going on with the villain, though, with some sort of bird motif on the mask, lionish hands (from the comments, he apparently looks different inside, with more bird-themed hands). Dan Adkins provides the inking on this one.

Avengers152_563.jpg

Published 1976

Sgt. Fury #17 [1965] – Cover

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A very detailed cover of the Howlers in a tight jam. Lots of really nice texture work on various parts of the composition and small details, and I’m going to have to give props to Colletta for doing it justice.

These SGT. FURY covers that Kirby did while not drawing the book are really quite a treat, he was clearly having some fun with them.

SgtFury17_562.jpg

Published 1965

Star Spangled Comics #36 [1944] – Cover

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From the middle of the wartime run of S&K covers-only for the Newsboy Legion, the Legion figures in the background are a bit bland, but more than made up for by the foreground scene and crazy gun-toting short cowboy action.

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Published 1944

Thor #138 [1967]

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Thor #138 [1967]bOf course I love the Kirby leaps, strides and punches, but one of my favourite Kirby visual cues (and one far less copied than the big ones) is the quieter hand across the chin when a character is thinking or planning. Not sure why, but it always makes me smile when I see that pose, very well constructed and telling, especially when you’ve got some good crazy eye-action to go along with it.

“The Flames of Battle” continues the great Troll War, as Thor goes down to Earth to rescue Sif, imprisoned by Ulik, while in Asgard the forces of King Geirrodur, guided by the powers of the captive Orikal, launch an all out attack on Asgard, where even Odin armours up for combat. This is just a gorgeous story, full of big battles and big concepts.

Thor #138 [1967]

In the Tales of Asgard back-up, Thor and his compatriots are in the middle of “The Quest for the Mystic Mountain”, which brings them in battle with the monstrous one-eyed guardian of Wizar the Prophet. Always good to see Thor against a monster, and a good Volstagg joke to end the story.

Colletta inks the cover, 16-page lead and 5-page backup.

Published 1967

Black Panther #1 [1977] – King Solomon’s Frog

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Kirby takes back control of one of his creations from a decade earlier with this issue, jumping right into a wild ride as T’Challa has been led on a mission by collector Abner Little, an acquaintance of his grandfather. The find King Solomon’s brass frog, which turns out to be a time machine, responsible for all sorts of strange historical happenings, including Ali Baba’s Genie (?) and the Loch Ness Monster.

Black Panther #1 [1977]

The beings the frog summons have the unfortunate tendency to kill their summoners without the control codes found in Solomon’s tomb. Unfortunately after finding the frog, they’re confronted by Princess Zanda, another collector, and in the ensuing battle Mister Little is apparently killed and the frog is activated, bringing forth the futuristic Hatch-22.

Kirby’s run on Panther had a few problems, but it more than makes up for them with some of the inspired goofiness, epitomized by Abner Little and the search for a time machine in a brass frog being the opening gambit.

Mike Royer inks the cover and 17-page story. Kirby also writes a text page about his plans for the series.

Published 1977

X-men – The Early Years #10 [1995] – The Coming of Ka-Zar

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A reprint from X-MEN #10 (1965) in this issue, as the X-Men hear about a mysterious being down in the Antarctic, and suspecting it may be a mutant (and craving some adventure) they go down and find a hidden land of long-extinct beasts and of course Ka-Zar (pronounced Kay-Sar, but since I didn’t see that helpful hint until a few years after I first saw the character I still pronounce it the other way. Of course, I also still say “Mag-net-o”). In a not-then-quite-as-cliche turn of events, they fight…

…and then they team up to rescue captured members Marvel Girl and the Angel. Along the way are a few dinosaurs, mastodons and other assorted creatures.

Chic Stone inks the 20-page story and the original cover reprinted inside. Not my favourite of Stone’s ink jobs, really. While I’ve grown to appreciate his work a lot more over the past few years, this one has a few more of the clunky bits that detractors of Stone’s work tend to mention. Still, there are some good bits, especially a few of the shots of Zabu.

Published 1995

Tales of Suspense #49 [1964] – Cover

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Boy, thank goodness the people at “X-Men” magazine were willing to work with those people at “Tales of Suspense” magazine to allow this crossover. I wonder what that special arrangement entailed?

Sol Brodsky inks (uncertain, see the comments) on this attractive cover. I love anything that gives a different kind of view of those great Kirby cityscapes, and Iron Man’s then-new armour looks great on here.

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Published 1964

Admin – FF DVD note

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Just a quick note that the just-released DVD of the FF movie (featuring characters created by Jack Kirby) does not have the previously mentioned one hour documentary about Kirby that was mentioned in the most recent KIRBY COLLECTOR. It might show up on some as-yet-unscheduled “special edition”.