"Despite the hundreds of fabulous stories he had drawn, I never knew him to miss a single deadline or to refuse an assignment, no matter how difficult or urgent it might be. Nor did I ever see him hesitate to grab his pencil and help another artist who might have been struggling with a difficult strip."
I know some people have issues with The Jack Kirby Collector- perhaps justifiably so- for heaping too much praise on Kirby, but it is really astonishing when they print layouts or costume designs he did for Marvel titles and strips he wasn't even pencilling at the time.
Another great line from the article, this time from Kurt Busiek:
It was 1974 or '75, I was buying FANTASTIC FOUR and MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS (then running Lee/Kirby reprints), and I wasn't yet clear on the idea of "reprints." And I remember trying to figure out how they managed to put the really good FF stories into MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS, and the merely-good ones into FANTASTIC FOUR. Did the stories come in, and they read 'em and thought, "This one's good, good enough for FF, but that one is one of our greatest. Put it in MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS!"
LOL, I was EXACTLY the same way! Marvel's Greatest Comics, Marvel Tales, Marvel Super-Hereos, Fantasy Masterpieces and Tales to Astonish were my favorite Marvel titles...
... next to Devil Dinosaur, of course
This message has been edited by Trevah on Feb 20, 2004 12:23 PM
I keep having this nightmare in which comic fans younger than I don't know who Jack Kirby is.
For those of us who grew up wondering how Reed was going to destroy the latest villain who turned Ben against the other three--or waiting breathlessly to see how Thor was going to prevent Ragnarok--Jack Kirby will always be unsurpassed (equalled, perhaps, by other greats, but not supassed).
I encourage all serious fans to pick up the Comics Journal Special Edition on Jack Kirby, as well as the Kirby Collector. Or, better yet, the Marvel Masterworks and Essentialls that feature his work.
I remember reading "Marvel's Greatest Comics" reprints, along with the "Origins of Marvel Comics" and assorted reprint tradepaperback collections of the period. Like, Busiek, I enjoyed the reprints more than the current stuff at that point in time, until JB started his run on title of "Fantastic Four."
I don't think I ever noticed this before, but that face on the Thing on "Marvel's Greatest Comics" #64 appears to be a newer illustration by George Perez with Joe Sinnott inks.
After a check check, I find that I am correct in that it was a retouch:
I always wonder why Marvel retouched Kirby's art in the 1970s.' I mean, I know that National/DC retouched his work, notably on Superman's face, but I can at least understand that they had a house style for Superman's face, etc. Jack Kirby's style was Marvel's "house style" during that period, basically, and he created most of the characters there. That is why I never will understand John Romita, Sr., and others being instructed to redo Kirby's faces on "The Might Thor," "The Incredible Hulk," and all the other covers that he illustrated when he returned to Marvel in the mid 1970s.'
I always wonder why Marvel retouched Kirby's art in the 1970s.' I mean, I know that National/DC retouched his work, notably on Superman's face, but I can at least understand that they had a house style for Superman's face, etc. Jack Kirby's style was Marvel's "house style" during that period, basically, and he created most of the characters there. That is why I never will understand John Romita, Sr., and others being instructed to redo Kirby's faces on "The Might Thor," "The Incredible Hulk," and all the other covers that he illustrated when he returned to Marvel in the mid 1970s.'
*****
By the time I got to Marvel, in the mid 70s, most of the creativity had been ground out of the stumbling giant the House that Stan and Jack (and Steve) built had become. Thesseemingly endless torrent of energy and sheer power had been replaced by piles and piles of RULES. "This Is How We Do It!" I had a sense at the time that some of it might be ego, the people then in charge trying to impress their "mark" upon what had gone before. I remember it as being Walt Simonson who was the first to make a real dent in this kind of thinking, when he applied a "back to the basics" approach to the design of characters in THOR. "I don't care what they look like now! This is how they looked when they looked good!!"
The Kirby Collector just ran an interview with Joe Sinnott, and they mentioned that very cover. Apparently, when the time came to reprint the issue, they didn't have the original art or a decent photostat, and so had Sinnott re-create the cover. That's why the Thing looks a tad funny.
What I CANNOT figure out is why they put those fucking word balloons on the reprint. The original cover probably sold as well (or better) than the reprint--and God knows that dramatic Kirby image did not need any stupid word balloons mucking it up. Stan, as editor, knew what he was doing when he had the cover go "as is." Some people's minds I just do not understand.
What I CANNOT figure out is why they put those fucking word balloons on the reprint. The original cover probably sold as well (or better) than the reprint--and God knows that dramatic Kirby image did not need any stupid word balloons mucking it up. Stan, as editor, knew what he was doing when he had the cover go "as is." Some people's minds I just do not understand.
I would guess it was more a function of when the reprint came out. Ballons were pretty common on covers at that time...it was rarer to not have them. Probably more of a marketing tactic than anything else.
Word balloons on covers were popular long before the 70s:
Mark and DAD; I don't agree with you about word balloons being bad across the board on all cover images. I agree that the original Kirby FF cover above is much better than the reprint, but I'd much rather have a cover image with word balloons that made reference to, or at least had a passing association with, the story inside. I really miss all the fun and drama those kinds of covers evoked.
This message has been edited by MattReed on Feb 21, 2004 2:06 AM
Interesting thing about the FF cover...the word balloons would have ruined the original, but the design changes of the reprint issue make them work well enough.
I feel better somehow for knowing that a copy of Iron Fist #1 is slabbed for future generations. I don't have to worry about the cat peeing on it or anything.
I have to say that this is NOT the battle I've been waiting for at all...I was actually hoping more for of a Baron Karza vs. Anton Arcane dust up to see who was the most Eee-vil science villain of them all.
This one is fun though I'll admit the simultaneous play by play from IM and IF are pretty hard to beat.
It's not exactly a cover blurb but a long time ago I read a reprint of a short Manhunter story in which the Manhunter faces a villain called the Chopper who is essentially a mobster in an occult robe with a big axe. The Chopper tries to kill the ManHunter with his Electric Head which is a big pink mardis gras mask thing that sort of looks like an alien's head.
I'm not sure what it actually did but it doesn't matter since the Manhunter tells the Chopper that his electric head is no match for his powerful baton and zaps him with said implement of justice. As he predicted the electric head is shattered. The Chopper, now deprived of the dubious benefits of his electric head, chases the manhunter around with a huge double half moon axe and accidently electrocutes himself. This all happens on one glorious page. I think it may have been a Jack Kirby illustrated story! Anyway I wish they sold this page on a T-shirt.
It's apparently from DC's First Issue Special #5 published in 1975.
This message has been edited by Palaeomerus on Feb 21, 2004 9:30 AM
Interesting to note that on those DC covers, the word balloons introduce plot elements that couldn't be picked up on from the illustrations alone, whereas the Marvel ones don't say much more than "This is a really tough fight!" (Evidently a very SHORT fight in the case of Iron Fist.)
"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else."- Teddy Roosevelt
Interesting to note that on those DC covers, the word balloons introduce plot elements that couldn't be picked up on from the illustrations alone, whereas the Marvel ones don't say much more than "This is a really tough fight!" (Evidently a very SHORT fight in the case of Iron Fist.)
*******
Often the cover copy at Marvel would reflect a kind of Must-Make-Myself-Seem-Needed attitude on the part of the editor. As you note, the cover copy would not add anything, merely "repeat" what the viewer can see quite clearly in the pictures.
Sometimes other forces were at work. Consider this cover from my run on FF:
The copy I wrote for this cover is contained in the first 2 balloons. Unfortunately, this issue came out during the "I must, but I must not!" period of Shooter's editorial excesses, a time when he declared that this "conflict" was the only thing that made a story a story. So we end up with another line added to Sue's dialog -- to introduce a "conflict" that is clearly not part of the picture!
My appreciation for Mr. Kirby just seems to grow the older I get. I recall as a kid not liking Kirby (or Mignola) because the art was "ugly" and not "pretty" like Neal Adams or John Byrne.
Then I bought the first FF Masterworks during my "must have everything FF" craze (thanks in part to JB's run on the title, which I'd discovered). I believe there was an essay included that discussed how "vibrant" and "alive" the art was and it was right! The storytelling and layout were amazing. Looking at these covers only excites me further and reminds that I still have 100 or so issues of great Lee/Kirby FF to enjoy!
Oh, just wait'll you get the volume that reprints issues #41-50. Joe Sinnott becomes the regular inker, Ben Grimm finally, after evolving for so many issues, emerges as the classic mopey-faced orange-rock "teddy bear," and the Inhumans first appear. Plus a little something about a creature named Galactus...
