1970s Kirby

[comicworkbench]

Anyone collecting Kirby's Dc or Marvel 1970s work?

I love Kamandi and have almost finished his run on it. Omac was okay too. I have the 1st few Jimmy Olson's but have not tried any of the other stuff.

Any opinions?

[habib]

Miracle Man, New Gods, Forever People from DC all good stuff!

Marvel 70's stuff not really my favorites but had a good issue here or there......Black Panther, 2001, Eternals, several issues of Captain America, Machine Man, Devil Dinosaur are some I can think of right now.

[dc kev]

A BIG Kirby fan myself...

You should pick up Jack Kirby Collector by TwoMorrows Publishing if you're not already doing so....lots of unpublished art and great info in there!

[Duffman_Comics]

Miracle Man, New Gods, Forever People from DC all good stuff!

Marvel 70's stuff not really my favorites but had a good issue here or there......Black Panther, 2001, Eternals, several issues of Captain America, Machine Man, Devil Dinosaur are some I can think of right now.

Ahem, as good as Kirby was, I don't think even he would lay claim to Moore's opus. Mister Miracle aka Scott Free #rofl#on the other hand . . .

Think I have all of Kirby's bronze DC works but really, Marvel's Devil Dinosaur was the pits. It's a shame, Kirby - great as he was - was a far better artist than writer, and that's where most of his 70's output is not-so-good.

My 12c

[habib]

Ahem, as good as Kirby was, I don't think even he would lay claim to Moore's opus. Mister Miracle aka Scott Free #rofl#on the other hand . . .


:o

Heh....Mister Miracle was in my mind when I wrote that but Miracle Man came out....duh! #creep#

[pasnat54]

Boy, some comic expert you are, habib!

I wouldn't call myself a Kirby collector today... because I actually have all those DC Kirby comics. Bought them for a quarter each off the spinner racks. That, I suppose, is one of the benefits of my advanced age.

I was absolutely dumbfounded by the idea that Kirby was switching from Marvel to DC. That was back when I was in high school, and I didn't understand that it was all about money. I had this impression that comics was like a sports rivalry, where you were loyal to only one team and never switched.

Then when I heard that The King was doing Jimmy Olson, I was even more shocked. I would have thought he'd be doing some more dynamic character like Superman or Green Lantern. (Not Batman; Jack's style was over-the-top, not in-the-shadows). Jimmy Olson was a lightweight book, with stories about Jimmy turning in a Turtle-Man or the red-headed Beatle of 79 AD. Kirby elevated the book, made it a less whimsical part of Superman's universe, uncovered a hidden world, and introduced Darkseid... then shot himself in the foot by bringing in Don Rickles. And Funky Flashman. A

But I really enjoyed the concept of The Forever People, and the New Gods; they were on a par with Superman, and were totally mysterious. I thought Mister Miracle Man was pretty good too. And The Source? Pure Kirby.

Those were the days. All in color for a quarter.

[jaeldubyoo]

Like Duffman wrote, Kirby was a far better artist than writer. I collected his DC stuff in the 70s strictly for the art. As a writer, he had grand ideas, but his dialogue was wooden and often painful to read. You could see his bold concepts in his art. Too bad he didn’t collaborate with a good writer to really flesh out the characters he created during the 70s. Kamandi was the only series I could read without suffering too much.

[comicworkbench]

As a writer, Kirby does have many weaknesses. Like many of you I have been picking these comics up for their art. Some of the splash pages are amazing. I tend to really like his underwater scenes or Kirby's fantastic vehicles. Some 1970s Kirby comics are better than others for their ideas/suject matter. The guy had so much visual imagination. I try my best to overlook the cheesy dialogue, sometimes it is too much and I stop reading and just look.

[pasnat54]

I think Kirby was at his best when drawing majestic skies and heavens. Some of the stuff he did for Thor back in the early days was mind-blowing. No wonder some of his cover were turned into day-glow psychedelic posters. And he did awesome machinery, kind of like Fritz Lang's Metropolis on a funny book page.

It tends to make me forget that one of his characters was a fetus in a containment unit. Hoo boy.

[define999]

The New Gods #1 Cover was fucking awsome! One of the most memorable covers from the bronze age for me at least........ Seriously sick artist....
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l163/matthewroybal/0a3b36da.jpg

[StlComics]

I love all the original Kirby 4th world stuff. A lot of the stuff he did once he went back to Marvel though is terrible. Never have been able to get into it. There were some nice covers, though.

http://www.comics.org/graphics/covers/2457/400/2457_4_06.jpg

http://www.comics.org/graphics/covers/2342/400/2342_4_03.jpg

http://www.comics.org/graphics/covers/1749/400/1749_4_257.jpg

http://www.immortalthor.net/comic_avengers-148.jpg

http://www.comics.org/graphics/covers/1860/400/1860_4_171.jpg

http://www.comics.org/graphics/covers/1860/400/1860_4_193.jpg

[JSpec]

Yeah, I have a real soft-spot for Kirby's mid-70s Cap run, especially the Red Skull story - I mean does it get any better than Arnim Zola!?!?!?

[purplemask99]

like pasnat52 .... all of a suddent I was spinning the rack at the drugstore and there was the "KIRBY"S HERE" blurb on a boof=k called NEW GODS , I picked em all up and they were good ,,,,
but I was in SHOCK , I had been a marvelite since 63 and sudenly in the middle of my Fantastic story , KIRBY WAS GONE ,,,, in Cap kirby was gone (whcih was OK the 1st few months as Steranko had some issues) ...
wow it was a shocker Jimmy "freakin" Olsen !!!! wow

[Grico]

I tend to just automatically pick up any Kirby 70's stuff when I see it cheap. I got a nice pile of later 4th world stuff in an auction (including the full OMAC) that I still need to read most of. His Sandman issue from 1974 with Joe Simon was really bizarre and interesting and of course ended up being referenced in a storyline of Gaiman's Sandman series. I recommend picking it up if you see it for a good price. Kirby did art on issues 4 through 6 as well. Very strange little series.


http://image.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/large/71441812226.1.gif

[NU_Blackshirts]

I don't think I really started paying attention to Kirby until I picked up The Demon. For some reason, that was the series that got me interested in his artwork. From there, I started picking up OMAC, Kamandi, etc.

[boatfund]

I bought almost all of the Kirby DC books when new, Kamandi, Forever People, New Gods, Mister Miracle. The only one I cared about was Kamandi.