Review: Kirby100

G“Day Crusaders,

This is Dodgy in the mix bringing you Kirby100 edited by John Morrow and Jon B. Cooke, the cover beautifully inked by Mike Royer.Â Proudly published by TwoMorrows Publishing.

I believe no mere words can equal the contribution the King Jack Kirby made to the world of comics; we got a taste of it in 1941 when teaming with Joe Simon creating Captain American and the sequential Fighting American in 1954. The real impact when teaming with Stan Lee to create the Fantastic Four followed by The Avengers, X-Men and among others changed Marvel and comics forever.

To commemorate the life of Jack Kirby marking one hundred years since his birth in 1917, long time editor of Jack Kirby Collector John Morrow pieced this 224 page book together in the typical softcover as well as a hard cover volume for the die-hard fans. This book is loaded with essay testimonials from 100 creators with the likes of : Michael Allred ”¢ Rick Altergott ”¢ Brent Anderson ”¢ John Backderf ”¢ Kyle Baker ”¢ Allen Bellman ”¢ Simon Bisley ”¢ Steve Bissette ”¢ Bill Black ”¢ Dan Brereton ”¢ Rich Buckler ”¢ Bob Budiansky ”¢ Bob Burden ”¢ Sal Buscema ”¢ John Byrne ”¢ Giorgio Comolo ”¢Â Paris Cullins ”¢ Alan Davis ”¢ Evan Dorkin ”¢ Jan Duursema ”¢ Kevin Eastman ”¢ Drew Friedman ”¢ Cliff Galbraith ”¢ Dave Gibbons ”¢ Keith Giffen ”¢ Michael T. Gilbert ”¢ Al Gordon ”¢ Larry Hama ”¢ Dean Haspiel ”¢ Fred Hembeck ”¢ Rick Hoberg ”¢ John Holmstrom ”¢ Richard Howell ”¢ Adam Hughes ”¢ Kelley Jones ”¢ Dan Jurgens ”¢ Paul Karasik ”¢ Peter Kuper ”¢ Ladronn ”¢ Erik Larsen ”¢ Batton Lash ”¢ Garry Leach ”¢ John Paul Leon ”¢ Joseph Michael Linsner ”¢ David Lloyd ”¢ Tom Mandrake ”¢ Brendan McCarthy ”¢ Scott McCloud ”¢ Bob McLeod ”¢ Will Meugniot ”¢ Al Milgrom ”¢ Steve Mitchell ”¢ Terry Moore ”¢ Bill Morrison ”¢ Dean Motter ”¢ Glen Murakami ”¢ Rudy Nebres ”¢ Dustin Nguyen ”¢ Graham Nolan ”¢ Michael Avon Oeming ”¢ Jerry Ordway ”¢ Rick Parker ”¢ Wendy Pini ”¢ Ed Piskor ”¢ Peter Poplaski ”¢ Carl Potts ”¢ George Pratt ”¢ Paul Rivoche ”¢ John Romita Sr. ”¢ Alex Ross ”¢ Mike Royer ”¢ Steve Rude ”¢ Mark Schultz ”¢ Tom Scioli ”¢ Marie Severin ”¢ Scott Shaw! ”¢ Bill Sienkiewicz ”¢ Dave Sim ”¢ Walter Simonson ”¢ Joe Sinnott ”¢ Paul Smith ”¢ Jim Starlin ”¢ Joe Staton ”¢ Ken Steacy ”¢ William Stout ”¢ Philip Tan ”¢ Bruce Timm ”¢ Jim Valentino ”¢ Rick Veitch ”¢ JosÃ© Villarrubia ”¢ Trevor Von Eeden ”¢ Mike Vosburg ”¢ Alan Weiss ”¢ Shannon Wheeler ”¢ Barry Windsor-Smith ”¢ Jim Woodring ”¢ John Workman ”¢ William Wray ”¢ Thomas Yeates ”¢ Craig Yoe ”¢ Jeff Zapata.

An example of a page, by the very talented Barry Windsor-Smith.

During my visit to the United States I was immensely lucky enough to purchase myself the hard cover volume and did not regret this purchase by any means. I had to admit getting my hands on a Jack Kirby Collector Magazine was like mining for Kryptonite! The cover is eye candy for any comic fan new and old; the first few pages of this book are typical of the Jack Kirby Collector layout with the Table of contents for easy access to everything. Here you can leap into any individual testimonials by each creators mentioned prior, therefore you can read what you want when you want. You see what these established creators have to say about the King and the impact he made to their careers, you will also appreciate these verbatim are flawlessly tied into the King“s life history starting from the Golden Age, The 1950“s, The Atlas Monsters, The Marvel Age of Comics, DC and The Fourth World, Return to Marvel and concludes with Independence. What I really enjoyed was seeing images I haven“t seen as well as learning things I never knew. Fancy Jack Kirby pencilled the cover of Amazing Fantasy #15 which Steve Ditko inked!? (I know, right?) It was fantastic seeing these high profiled comic creators wearing their fanboy hats while going into detail for their admiration of the King.

We are in for a treat; look out for the full colored foldout pages called the Dieties. This is concept works that Kirby planned to launch with Marvel prior the fallout in the late sixties; some of the designs were morphed into DC“s The Fourth World. Absolutely gorgeous!

Hands down, perfect for all Kirby fans and Comic lovers alike, Do ya“self a favour and check it out!

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Fellow Kirby fans, visit your local comic store to add Jack Kirby Collector to your Pull List and for other amazing magazines by TwoMorrows such as Alter Ego, Back Issue!, BrickJournal, Draw!, Write Now and other magazines.

For more, click here:Â http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=98_57

Author Profile

Shane Tydeman

The Wonder from Down Under,
Dodgy is a senior contributor to Comic Crusaders. Co-Host of The Yeah-Nah Wepa Show! An advocate of indie comics and is creator of Indie Comics podcasts Flipside Focus, Sunderkatz and Think Indie Podcast!

An unapologetic movie fan, NBA fan, action figure, trading card fan! Also an advocate for Depression awareness!