Kirby: King of Comics

This book is a tremendous homage to the work of Jack Kirby. You will be hard pressed to find many more gorgeous books about a major comic artist, with a wide array of illustrations from every period of Kirby's long and illustrious career. Evanier has outdone himself in selection drawings that put Kirby at his best on display. There are also some wonderful rarities, such as the great and very late "Street Code," based upon his youthful experiences in a local gang. There are a bevy of raw drawings beside the way they eventually appeared in published form. But my favorite has to be a multiple page spread from Kirby's NEW GODS, showing the same drawing first from Kirby's hand, then after the colorer and letterer have their turn, and finally in a version by the great Alex Ross.

The illustrations more of less carry the book. As a documentary it lacks depth. I didn't come away from the book really feeling like I knew Jack Kirby as a person. Many of the major incidents in his creative life feel more gestured at than delved into. And the whole messy relationship and collaboration between Kirby and Stan Lee is not very satisfactory. Indeed, at the end of the book I didn't get a strong sense of of what Lee and Kirby had done with one another. Too much of their relationship devolved into a he said-he said affair.

Still, by the end of the book you have a good overall idea of Kirby as an artist and an outline of his career. It would be nice if someday we got a full length, detailed biography, especially one that untangled the intricacies of his work with Stan Lee. While Evanier rightfully stresses Kirby's longer collaboration with Joe Simon, he will always be best remembered for his work at Marvel. In the meantime, this book gives some glimpse into Kirby's life and a much broader peek into his work as an artist.

There has been so much written on Jack Kirby's work; so many tributes in the past, that I was not prepared to be bowled-over by this one. But then Mark Evanier--who knew and worked for Kirby--is not your average "fan." He's a guy whose own creative credits (Groo, Garfield, etc., etc...) are so impressive that I should slap myself for not realizing that any book he'd do on Kirby would be a sensation. Aside from the lavish reproduction quality and the generously-sized book itself, I'd say that the selection of images impressed me most mightily. Kirby's output was so phenomenal, how do you boil it down to the essentials? And yet, given the space limitations, I think Evanier has done it. His selections not only hit Kirby's high-points, but manage to carry along the biographical narrative. I was also glad that Evanier had sidebars on many of Kirby's inking collaborators whose work became so essential to our enjoyment of Kirby. And of course Evanier gave us probably the most accurate telling of the difficult Stan Lee/Jack Kirby relationship (about which Stan must bear his shame to his grave). If I may be so bold as to inject a moral into the Kirby story, it's probably that creators must take control of their creations--as people like Will Eisner and Walt Disney did-- and not become dependent on publishers, virtually none of whom ever seem to be willing to pay creators their due. Thanks for this ultimate Jack Kirby homage, Mark!

I picked this up in my library stacks and started thumbing through it. Five minutes later two hours had gone by and I had relived a substantial portion of my childhood. Some of it brought me close to tears remembering how much Marvel Comics meant to me when I was a kid and above all, how much Jack Kirby's art meant - as for many, I am sure, Kirby was the first comic book artist I recognized by style and name. But just as moving was Mark Evanier's portrait of who Jack Kirby was and what he meant to those who knew him. Some of the reviews on this book seemed to miss the mark to me, complaining that the book wasn't what they expected. I didn't have preconceptions about what it should be and so it took me by the hand and heart on a journey along old paths. (Just as a parting aside, though I didn't agree with much of what Norbert J. Rozek had to say, I must sheepishly confess: Vince Colletta was always my favorite Kirby inker too - it's probably why my favorite Kirby comic was Thor).

Filled with phenomenal examples of Kirby's art, KIRBY: KING OF COMICS is a great primer to the work of one of comics' true legends. "Street Code," Kirby's look at childhood on the mean streets of NY, alone is worth the price of admission, but the book is filled any number of rarely published pieces, often from the original pencils. The text from Mark Evanier, a talented writer and longtime Kirby associate, proves to be a bit of a disappointment. Evanier does a fine job of encapsulating Kirby's life, focusing on the high and low points of Kirby's storied career, but the work is simply lacking in the depth that I have come to expect from current biographies. Simon and Kirby, the Marvel years, the creation of the "Fourth World" are looked at, but it's little more than a cursory glance. Less than half the book is text, and even with the oversize pages, (Great for the art repros!) it still feels skimpy on details. Maybe, at some point in the future a definitive bio will come out; until then fans will have to make due with this loving tribute.

I began collecting comics in the mid 90's and didn't start looking backwards to the masters until several years later. I had seen Kirby's work here and there and never really was that impressed with it, but years later I pick up this book and read it (for hours last night and all afternoon today :) and I couldn't put it down. I was really taken with the work and life of this (now I see it) comics "master." Into the first few pages I was hooked on the writing. It moves along at a quick pace and Evanier doesn't get bogged down with the extraneous stuff... he just keeps speeding forward, which complements the art tremendously. His writing is not overly sentimental and yet Evanier clearly admires Kirby and his work and it really shows through with the heart behind the writing. Many passages were really quite moving, and some very funny.

Here's an example of Evanier's words: "The head librarian turned to the man next to her, who happened to be Kirby, and asked him if he thought comics mirrored reality. Jack said, 'No, comics transcend reality.' The answer startled the librarian, and she said, 'If you were to mirror reality, then perhaps others could begin to understand it.' Jack popped a piece of cheddar into his mouth and fixed her with a stare he'd learned either on the streets of New York or on Omaha Beach during World War II. 'Madam,' he said, 'when you mirror reality, you see it all backward. When you start transcending it, that's when you have a real good shot at figuring out what's going on.' Then he went over to Roz and told her her he was ready to leave."

The art itself is grandly reproduced, often completely covering the page and at such a quality that one can see the tones and pencil smudges in the drawings. This quality of reproduction gave me whole new insight into the beauty and power of this man's work. In the end, I've been transformed into a fan and can't wait to get my hands on more of Kirby's work.