Customer Reviews

Rip Kirby Volume 2 HC

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IDW continues its reprinting of Alex Raymond's wonderful Rip Kirby strip. Like the first volume, this volume is entirely in black and white because Rip Kirby never had a color Sunday strip. The interesting introduction to this volume goes someway towards explaining why. Raymond apparently was quite active in the National Cartoonist Society, serving as its president for a while.

The current volume consists of 10 separate story lines. Most are fairly strong; good, exciting stuff. The only one which seemed a bit weak was the last, "I'm OK, you're great". (The titles are surely modern concoctions?) There was a plot development that seemed abrupt with no proper build up. We also get second appearances of characters that were introduced in the first volume, Pagan Lee, Fingers Moray, and the Mangler. Pagan Lee has it all over girl next door Honey Dorian who continues to be a weak point of the strip in my opinion. Her main purpose seems to be introducing Rip Kirby to clients and cases. The Mangler story, while quite good as a story, is a bit of a comedown for the Mangler. Previously he represented a threat to world peace; here he's a jewel thief. Kirby's thus far rather modest rogues gallery adds the interesting Joe Seven and the Widow.

The reproduction (I'm guessing it's the reproduction, not having seen the original strips), like the first volume, show no signs of any reconstruction or restoration. Unlike the first volume, there are places here that might have benefited from some touch up. The scenes at night where there is a large amount of ink in the panel are particularly not as good as they could be. For the most part though Raymond's talents shine through. Like the first volume, there are passages which look like assistants wielded the pen.

All in all, a great volume, highly recommended. I can't wait for volume 3.

Rip Kirby began as a newspaper strip back in the 1040s thanks to Alex Raymond. The stories are exciting with a mixture of mystery and mayhem. Kirby is a detective extraordinaire with his butler and girl friend to help him out. Lots of great looking women, tough hoods
and well crafted characters. These tales hold up well today. These collections (both V. 1 & 2) are of excellent quality and highly recommended.