Customer Reviews

Marvel Visionaries: Jack Kirby

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Without a doubt, Jack Kirby brought some of the most majestic and powerful illustrations to comic-books. No doubt he was also a driving force behind much of the plotting and pathos that so marks many of Marvel's finest stories. Still, this collection should lay to rest any of the oft-told stories that it was Kirby who did the writing (while some went so far as to say that Stan Lee could not write a simple sentence in plain English). While the art-work remains stellar throughout the entire collection, one does see a decline in the writing once Lee leaves Kirby to script his own stories. While the art-work seldom suffers (if anything, it remains as glorious as anything Kirby ever produced), the scrips for the Kirby-penned issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA and THE ETERNALS are wooden/stilted, at best. In the case of the Kirby-penned "What If..." issue (one that tackles the concept of what if the Fantastic Four were made up of members of the Marvel Bullpen), the writing is downright cringe-worthy. While this book is a fine primer to introduce the unintitiated to the grandiose and marvelous artwork of Jack Kirby, it also serves to remind one that Kirby was often at his very best when he had a talented writer on hand to help him guide his unique vision and talents.

I was expecting more from this book considering Jack Kirby did more for Marvel and comic books than anyone outside of Stan Lee. There is a brief introduction that reads like it was written in 5 minutes and lacks any insight or historical distance to Kirby's impact on comic book art. Yes, there are some key 1960s glossy reprints that show off Kirby's magnificent and muscular pop-art -- particularly FF 51 (w/Sinnott's inks) that gets my vote for the best work ever by Kirby/Lee. The other FF reprints are outstanding examples of Kirby. The Thor reprints are good but his earlier Thors, particularly Tales of Asgard with inker Vince Colletta, are better examples of Kirby's dynamism. Similarly, the Captain America choices in this book are OK but not his best CA. Ditto for Sgt. Fury and the Avengers. The Golden Age stuff is worthwhile and needs to be in here, but the most baffling reprints are the schlockly 50's horror/SF work, which are utterly forgettable. This should be Kirby's best work. Far from it. Try again, Marvel.

Would there have been a comics industry without Jack Kirby? Yes, I think there would have, but it might not have been as fun. This book reprints a wide format of stories (see the Amazon description above) in a format worthy of Kirby.

Particularly nice was the inclusion of the "What-If?" story that has
Kirby and Stan Lee becoming members of the Fantastic Four. It is great fun to watch the King of Comics actually join in the action in the comic universe he helped create.

Great collection of old Jack Kirby stories, starting in 1941, with an issue of Red Raven Comics that cost 10 cents. The art is not that great, trippy monster machine/space god stuff that Kirby did in the 1970s, but it does show strange tales of gods, in this case a mature tale of the Greek gods, showing Zeus pledging Mercury to go to earth during World War II and confuse men by breaking down their ability to communicate, i.e. intercepting the orders that generals send to their soldiers and rendering them ineffective, interfering in the plans of Rudolph Hendler's German armies (Hendler/Hitler is actually Pluto/Satan in disguise). Then there's the origin of Captain America, who was recruited/created to stop spies and saboteurs hindering America's war effort. There are short tales from The Yellow Claw, The Incredible Hulk and Spiderman, before there's the classic tale of Captain America's rescue from a block of ice in the Arctic circle (funny how the Avengers just happened to stumble upon it during one of their routine patrols of the Arctic Ocean). An issue of The Fantastic Four is more surreal, as Reed Richards discovers some sort of anti-matter universe and explores it with The Thing (actually an imposter disguised as the thing... crazy). Then there's a trio of great Thor stories, centering around the High Evolutionary and the knights of Wundagore and all the nutty new-men and super-beasts. Here Jane Foster leaves the picture - when Odin turns her into a goddess and she can't take it any more, she turns her back on Thor who, conveniently, discovers that young Sif has grown up into a beautiful young goddess. There's another Fantastic Four tale, showing a fight between the FF and the Inhumans, it's not very exciting, nor is Captain America #200, showing the end of a conspiracy during America's bicentennial year to turn all Americans into brainless slaves cowering in fear. Some social commentary as the Falcon muses the irony of a black man, the descendant of slaves, saving the country.

The real trippy artwork begins with The Eternals, which shows the coming of the Centennials, seven giant beings hanging out at an Aztec temple. The final tale is a strange "What If" tale: What If The Original Marvel Bullpen Had Become the Fantastic Four. My edition, which I got from the library, had about 60 pages ripped out of it. Gosh!

It's great Marvel gave this concept a chance; selecting Kirby's best vs. significant issues isn't exactly easy. The colors are *very* clean & bright, almost to a ridiculous degree. I actually kind of like it this way.

Highlights here for me...
*Mercury in the 20th Century- Red Raven Comics #1. Kirby's larger-than-life approach is evident right away.
*Meet Captain America- Captain America Comics #1. Cap's 1st origin story by Simon & Kirby, with some priceless dialogue.
*Beware the Rawhide Kid!- Rawhide Kid #17. Eight great pages of Kirby & Ayers art.
*Captain America Joins... The Avengers!- Avengers #4. One of my single, all-time favorite issues.
*The Fangs of the Fox- Sgt. Fury #6. A great surprise story for me; I'm really glad they included it.
*The Galactus Trilogy- Fantastic Four #'s 48-50. Explosive creativity; it's truly a landmark Marvel tale.

The rest of the stories in this over-sized book range from famous & great to "Why did they include this?".:) At least this collection has helped me to pinpoint my favorite Kirby Marvel work: it's currently his early to mid-'60s issues that inspire me the most. Moderately recommended.

See why Jack Kirby became known as the "King of Comics". This archive covers 40 years of Kirby's work for Marvel. It is a good introduction to see how his style and storytelling evolved.

Including the now classic introduction of Captain America, the Fantastic Four with Galactus and Silver Surfer, Thor, and the whimsical take on the "What If" with the Marvel Bullpen.

The Visonaries is a great addition to the Marvel Masterwork library.

As delighted as I might be to see this sweeping together of work into a kind of career overview of the comic book genius, the deal-breaker for the project comes, for me, in the truth that every Kirby fan knows: Jack Kirby and Marvel ended their relationship in acrimony, at least from the King's side. --And he had plenty of reason. He felt deeply, to the end, that someone else at the company took substantial credit for some of the best work he ever did, and he could never get over the fact that thousands of pages of his art, art that was being held in the company vault, were never returned to him. (The eventual grudging return of a tiny fraction of his pages for Marvel before his death raised more questions than it answered-- to where on earth had all this art, under lock and key for "safe-keeping" for decades, disappeared? Most frustratingly, through the period when he campaigned to get his art returned, Kirby said that he kept seeing his vintage Marvel boards for sale at conventions!)

I can, with effort, set aside the way Marvel treated Kirby. --It's a question of keeping the karma good. But, on the other hand, I will never give them another dollar for anything that cashes in on Kirby's name. No way. I have too much respect for the man's work, for his personal memory and for what I would assume to be his wishes in the matter.

Those interested in prime Kirby can check out his Fourth World books for DC, currently available in a nice set of fat trade paperbacks, at very affordable prices. Of course, Kirby's time at DC during his Fourth World period was not always a walk in the garden. But any mistreatment of Kirby by DC at this time seems to have been more like mishandling, the result of the company's growing desperation and panic reaction at the fact that nothing, not even Kirby with his magic hit-making touch, could pull them out of their perpetual number two sales spot. But there was certainly no theft of credit or of his actual boards.