New Jack Kirby Book

[Adam West]

There was a positive write up on it in the Washington Post over the weekend. Looks like an expensive book, even on Amazon but I might splurge and purchase it. I heard it was filled with a lot of excellent color drawings and the book gives him some much deserved credit for his role in the comic book industry.

[PCofmisfittoys]

i will have to get it for sure ..he IS the comic book industry.

[Vortigern99]

From Publishers Weekly
As a teenager, future television and comics writer Evanier became an assistant to Jack Kirby, one of the foremost artists in the history of American comics. Kirby played a major role in shaping the superhero genre, not only through his innovative, dynamic artwork but through collaborating with Stan Lee to create classic Marvel characters like the Fantastic Four, the Hulk and the X-Men. Evanier has now written this magnificently illustrated biography of his mentor. Rather than employing the academic prose that one might expect from an art book, Evanier, a talented raconteur, tells Kirby's life story in an informal, entertaining manner. Although Evanier does not delve into psychological analysis, he brings Kirby's personality vividly alive: a child of the Great Depression, a creative visionary who struggled most of his life to support his family. The book recounts how Kirby was insufficiently appreciated by clueless corporate executives and close-minded comics professionals. But the stunning artwork in this book, taken from private collections, makes the case for Kirby's genius. A landmark work, this is essential reading for comics fans and those who want to better understand the history of the comics medium—or those who just want to enjoy Kirby's incredible artwork. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Book Description
Jack Kirby created or co-created some of comic books’ most popular characters including Captain America, The X-Men, The Hulk, The Fantastic Four, The Mighty Thor, Darkseid, and The New Gods. More significantly, he created much of the visual language for fantasy and adventure comics. There were comics before Kirby, but for the most part their page layout, graphics, and visual dynamic aped what was being done in syndicated newspaper strips. Almost everything that was different about comic books began in the forties on the drawing table of Jack Kirby. This is his story by one who knew him well--the authorized celebration of the one and only “King of Comics” and his groundbreaking work. The book includes a gatefold by Alex Ross.

[thunderbolt]

Sounds cool. One of my dream crossovers is an all Kirby characters book. The Fourth World guys, Marvels early sixties characters, Stuntman, The Challs, Captain Victory, Devil Dinosaur, Machine Mann and so on all rolled into one huge Kirby-verse saga.

[4NDR01D]

Just picked it up today, about $50 and worth every penny. Who else do you guys think deserves their own book?

[Adam West]

J.K. Rowling.

[4NDR01D]

never heard of him, what comic did he draw?

[goldenryan]

loved it. the artwork was great

[Surfsup]

I bought that a couple of months back, it´s an excellent read with some fantastic artwork! It´s a bit of a downer in places though to read how he was let down time after time after all he did for Marvel.

[tomstoyz2]

I saw this book at the store the other day & it's amazing. I seriously love this guy's work. I didn't have the money at the time or I would have bought it.

The artwork is beautiful stuff!

[Vortigern99]

For those who've read the book (if any), how does the text treat Kirby's assertions that he, and not Stan Lee, created Spidey, Hulk, FF, Iron Man, etc. etc.?

[toysrus]

Kamandi!

Kamandi was my favorite Kirby work. Did Kirby also do Thundarr the barbarian?

[Vortigern99]

He art-designed the characters at least; some maintain that he conceived the basic story and characters, too.

[goldenryan]

For those who've read the book (if any), how does the text treat Kirby's assertions that he, and not Stan Lee, created Spidey, Hulk, FF, Iron Man, etc. etc.?

kirby co-created hulk, x-men,ff, thor, etc. and he did the first cover of af #15 which is how spidey still looks today.
stan lee claimed for years that he was the one who created the marvel universe (and did not mention kirby as co-creater)

[Vortigern99]

I was just reading Stan Lee's Origins of Marvel Comics today (first printing in the early 1970s), and in it Stan praises Jack as a great artist (as he always did), but says nothing of Jack's hand in actually creating the characters.

For his own part, for years Jack maintained that he single-handedly created all the Marvel greats -- Spidey, FF, Hulk, Thor, IM, X-Men, etc. -- and that Stan was a copy editor who appropriated Jacks' creations and presented them as his own.

Probably the truth lies somewhere in between. Jack had reasons to be disgruntled, and was probably trying to balance out what he saw as gross injustice by cutting Stan entirely out of his version of the characters' origins. No doubt there was some kind of joint effort involved, but we may never know the real truth.

I was wondering if this new book sheds some light, but apprently not?