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Kirby: King of Comics

Jack Kirby book

Kirby: King of Comics is a new art book / biography about Jack Kirby, the revolutionary and prolific comic book artist who helped create so many amazing characters in the Marvel and DC universes. I finally got my hands on a copy last week.

Two things stand out about this book:

1) Appropriately, Kirby’s story is told more through his artwork than words.

There are wonderful comics from and about his childhood (like the Eisner-esque “Street Code” about growing up in the tenements of New York). And comics and illustrations from every stage of his career, like his time working as a colorist for Fleischer Animation Studios, his time as a strip cartoonist, editorial cartoonist and then, of course, revolutionary comic book artist.

2) There are more scans of his penciled artwork than I’ve ever seen in one place before.

Kirby, of course, was a penciler and he rarely inked his own work. So it’s hard to find original Kirby pencils. If only as a reference book for artists, this book is a gem. And in many cases the inked pages are scanned raw, so it’s like you’re looking at the original page and you can see all the notes, touch-ups and mistakes; which is an invaluable learning tool.

There have been a handful of Jack Kirby retrospectives in the past, including The Comics Journal Library: Jack Kirby (which is very good, but presents mostly the finished inks) and the comprehensive series of Collected Jack Kirby (which is aimed more at his hardcore fan-base); but considering his influence on the medium, it’s surprising how little is out there.

This great book starts to put “The King” in the historical context he deserves.

Also of interest:
Wikipedia: Jack Kirby
Drawn: Jack Kirby Museum

  • http://users.rio.com/bamm/illustrationISM/others.html illustrationISM

    would STAN LEE be the duke?
    or the opposing KING in the neighboring
    country?

    mark @
    ISM &
    BAMmGRAPHICS

  • http://users.rio.com/bamm/illustrationISM/others.html illustrationISM

    would STAN LEE be the duke?
    or the opposing KING in the neighboring
    country?

    mark @
    ISM &
    BAMmGRAPHICS

  • http://hobbit1978.deviantart.com/ Hobbit1978

    I picked this one up a few weeks ago at Barnes & Nobles and I was NOT disappointed! It’s taken me at least two weeks to get through it all because I kept stopping to get lost in each of his pencil scans. The guy was a genius! I never got into Kirby because I always hated what the lo-quality printing process did to his art but now, I’m hooked. KIRBY FOR LIFE!

  • http://hobbit1978.deviantart.com Hobbit1978

    I picked this one up a few weeks ago at Barnes & Nobles and I was NOT disappointed! It’s taken me at least two weeks to get through it all because I kept stopping to get lost in each of his pencil scans. The guy was a genius! I never got into Kirby because I always hated what the lo-quality printing process did to his art but now, I’m hooked. KIRBY FOR LIFE!

  • http://www.sidlowski.com/ Sidlowski

    Truly, he was as a god.

  • http://www.sidlowski.com Sidlowski

    Truly, he was as a god.

  • nexuscb

    There’s certainly a lot of Kirby goodness in the book, what’s disappointing to me though is what could have been. It was originally to be designed by Paul Sahre who is a Kirby fanatic (not to mention one of the best book designers around) but he wasn’t able to reach an agreement with the author so only his cover remains. As it stands, I don’t think the eventually chosen design does as much justice to the work as it should. It’s kind of bland, if iKirby’s work was anything it was never bland. Such a pity….

  • nexuscb

    There’s certainly a lot of Kirby goodness in the book, what’s disappointing to me though is what could have been. It was originally to be designed by Paul Sahre who is a Kirby fanatic (not to mention one of the best book designers around) but he wasn’t able to reach an agreement with the author so only his cover remains. As it stands, I don’t think the eventually chosen design does as much justice to the work as it should. It’s kind of bland, if iKirby’s work was anything it was never bland. Such a pity….

  • bspence11

    You actually LIKE the cover? Seriously? I hate it. It’s so hard to even tell what the name of the book is. Who heard of making the title legible only by opening the book up and looking at both sides? It’s not even obvious that it’s a Kirby book.

  • bspence11

    You actually LIKE the cover? Seriously? I hate it. It’s so hard to even tell what the name of the book is. Who heard of making the title legible only by opening the book up and looking at both sides? It’s not even obvious that it’s a Kirby book.

  • Oluseyi

    A Kirby-themed cover without a single Kirby Krackle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirby_dots)?

    Sacrilegious.

  • Oluseyi

    A Kirby-themed cover without a single Kirby Krackle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirby_dots)?

    Sacrilegious.

  • orsonbean

    bspence11- What cover are you looking at? It says “Kirby- King Of Comics By Mark Evanier” right there on the front cover (that’d be the right side of the above image). In fact, on the image above the title is written three times. Also? The artwork covering every inch of the cover? Makes it pretty obvious that it’s a Kirby book.

  • orsonbean

    bspence11- What cover are you looking at? It says “Kirby- King Of Comics By Mark Evanier” right there on the front cover (that’d be the right side of the above image). In fact, on the image above the title is written three times. Also? The artwork covering every inch of the cover? Makes it pretty obvious that it’s a Kirby book.