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The Collected Jack Kirby Collector #2
The Collected Jack Kirby Collector, Vol. 2
This trade paperback reprints the sold-out issues #10-12 of the bi-monthly magazine for Kirby fans and includes a new special section detailing a fan's visit to the Kirbys' remarkable home. This private tour is profusely illustrated with photos, and more than 30 pieces of Kirby art never before published in TJKC, including Jack's uninked pencils from The Prisoner, New Gods, Captain America, Thor, Hunger Dogs, Jimmy Olsen, SHIELD, Machine Man, The Eternals, and more Learn more about the King's career through interviews with Jack and Roz Kirby, John Byrne, Steve Gerber, Mark Evanier, Roger Stern, Marv Wolfman, and page after page of rare Kirby art, much in its original pencil form. Join us in celebrating the life and career of comics' most prodigious imagination: Jack Kirby
- GenresComics
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
About the author
John Morrow
25 books3 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 9, 2020
(Copy of review posted on my Facebook page on 5/7/20.) I just finished "The Collected Jack Kirby Collector Volume Two" (1998) from TwoMorrows Publishing (at that time still called TwoMorrows Advertising), reprinting and collecting issues #10-12 of "The Jack Kirby Collector" magazine.
By theme, these issues were #10 (April 1996), a "humor" themed issue, with articles on the more intentionally humorous comics projects Jack Kirby worked on, plus interviews with his wife Roz Kirby and "Destroyer Duck" creator Steve Gerber.
Issue #11 (July 1996), a "Jack Kirby in Hollywood" themed issue, with articles on projects of Kirby's done for the movies and tv, including some that were never actually made, and the Hollywood centered superhero Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created in the 1950s, Stuntman. Also, there is an article looking at the similarities between Star Wars and Kirby's "Fourth World"/"New Gods", and reviews of Kirby's work on the newspaper comic strip adaptation of the Disney "The Black Hole" movie, and work Kirby did on a comic book adaptation of "The Prisoner" tv series (which ended up not being published).
Issue #12 (October 1996), was an "International" themed issue, with reprints of interviews with Jack Kirby discussing a visit he made to Italy and the impact of his works overseas, articles written by Kirby fans from around the world describing how Kirby's comics have been published over the years in their native countries and translated into their home languages, an interview with John Byrne ("a controversial Canadian", as billed on the cover), regarding Jack Kirby and working on characters created by Kirby over the years), and the biggest highlight of the issue (and probably the entire collected edition, aside from the wonderful Roz Kirby interview already mentioned above), a transcript of the third annual Jack Kirby Tribute Panel at the San Diego Comic-Con International on July 6, 1996, with Mark Evanier (moderator), Marv Wolfman, Roger Stern, and J. David Spurlock (and a few comments also from Roz Kirby, Robert Katz (Jack Kirby's nephew), and Scott Shaw, who were all in the audience).
The first thirty-four pages of the collected edition contains material original to the book, a long article titled "The House That Jack Built: A British Fan's Visit to the Kirby Home" by Glenn B. Fleming of Manchester, England", compete, as always, with loads of Jack Kirby artwork.
At the point when issues #10-12 were originally coming out, the magazine had come a long way from the "slickly produced fanzine" of its first few issues and had developed into a respectable, professionally produced commercial magazine sold in comic book stores as well as via subscription direct from the publisher.
However, at this point, the mix of retrospective/review and personal testimonial pieces versus interviews with comics professionals and people who knew Kirby (and archival interviews with Jack Kirby himself), and "behind the scenes" pieces going into the creation of Kirby's works is still a bit inconsistent. Some issues still rely quite a bit on pieces contributed by readers of the magazine on how they first came to discover the works of Kirby, what their favorites were, how Kirby was either what got them into reading comic books or became their favorite artist far above all others, etc, etc.
Which is fine, but my favorite pieces in all of the TwoMorrows magazines are almost always the one on one interviews, group discussions (including the comic book convention panel discussion transcripts), and behind the scenes/"making of" style articles.
These three still early issues of “The Jack Kirby Collector” have a few really good ones of those (again, the best being the interview with Roz Kirby from issue #10, the San Diego Kirby Tribute panel at discussion transcript in issue #12, and the older interviews with Kirby all three issues), spaced out with a lot of okay "fluff" pieces. (The letters columns are also fun to read, showing the reader response to the immediately preceding issues, and publisher John Morrow's responses to them.)
Over the years, “The Jack Kirby Collector” will add several regularly appearing columns which will give it a more consistent format and feel, issue to issue. That was still a ways away at the time these three issues came out (as were companion TwoMorrows magazines; the first, Jon Cooke's "Comic Book Artist", would not begin until Spring of 1998).
For those who love Jack Kirby comics, “The Jack Kirby Collector” is an obvious recommendation. However, ones not already familiar with the magazine should probably sample some current issues first before seeking out the early issues as today’s JKC is quite a bit different in tone and content from the early years. But for those like me who love just about all of the various TwoMorrows magazines and books on the subject of comic books over the decades, I think most would enjoy going back to the very beginning and making their way from “The Jack Kirby Collector” #1 onwards (at least the first twenty something issues available in these trades paperback book collections), as I am.
I give this particularly collection (based on the magazines reprinted within it), three stars out of five on GoodReads.
By theme, these issues were #10 (April 1996), a "humor" themed issue, with articles on the more intentionally humorous comics projects Jack Kirby worked on, plus interviews with his wife Roz Kirby and "Destroyer Duck" creator Steve Gerber.
Issue #11 (July 1996), a "Jack Kirby in Hollywood" themed issue, with articles on projects of Kirby's done for the movies and tv, including some that were never actually made, and the Hollywood centered superhero Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created in the 1950s, Stuntman. Also, there is an article looking at the similarities between Star Wars and Kirby's "Fourth World"/"New Gods", and reviews of Kirby's work on the newspaper comic strip adaptation of the Disney "The Black Hole" movie, and work Kirby did on a comic book adaptation of "The Prisoner" tv series (which ended up not being published).
Issue #12 (October 1996), was an "International" themed issue, with reprints of interviews with Jack Kirby discussing a visit he made to Italy and the impact of his works overseas, articles written by Kirby fans from around the world describing how Kirby's comics have been published over the years in their native countries and translated into their home languages, an interview with John Byrne ("a controversial Canadian", as billed on the cover), regarding Jack Kirby and working on characters created by Kirby over the years), and the biggest highlight of the issue (and probably the entire collected edition, aside from the wonderful Roz Kirby interview already mentioned above), a transcript of the third annual Jack Kirby Tribute Panel at the San Diego Comic-Con International on July 6, 1996, with Mark Evanier (moderator), Marv Wolfman, Roger Stern, and J. David Spurlock (and a few comments also from Roz Kirby, Robert Katz (Jack Kirby's nephew), and Scott Shaw, who were all in the audience).
The first thirty-four pages of the collected edition contains material original to the book, a long article titled "The House That Jack Built: A British Fan's Visit to the Kirby Home" by Glenn B. Fleming of Manchester, England", compete, as always, with loads of Jack Kirby artwork.
At the point when issues #10-12 were originally coming out, the magazine had come a long way from the "slickly produced fanzine" of its first few issues and had developed into a respectable, professionally produced commercial magazine sold in comic book stores as well as via subscription direct from the publisher.
However, at this point, the mix of retrospective/review and personal testimonial pieces versus interviews with comics professionals and people who knew Kirby (and archival interviews with Jack Kirby himself), and "behind the scenes" pieces going into the creation of Kirby's works is still a bit inconsistent. Some issues still rely quite a bit on pieces contributed by readers of the magazine on how they first came to discover the works of Kirby, what their favorites were, how Kirby was either what got them into reading comic books or became their favorite artist far above all others, etc, etc.
Which is fine, but my favorite pieces in all of the TwoMorrows magazines are almost always the one on one interviews, group discussions (including the comic book convention panel discussion transcripts), and behind the scenes/"making of" style articles.
These three still early issues of “The Jack Kirby Collector” have a few really good ones of those (again, the best being the interview with Roz Kirby from issue #10, the San Diego Kirby Tribute panel at discussion transcript in issue #12, and the older interviews with Kirby all three issues), spaced out with a lot of okay "fluff" pieces. (The letters columns are also fun to read, showing the reader response to the immediately preceding issues, and publisher John Morrow's responses to them.)
Over the years, “The Jack Kirby Collector” will add several regularly appearing columns which will give it a more consistent format and feel, issue to issue. That was still a ways away at the time these three issues came out (as were companion TwoMorrows magazines; the first, Jon Cooke's "Comic Book Artist", would not begin until Spring of 1998).
For those who love Jack Kirby comics, “The Jack Kirby Collector” is an obvious recommendation. However, ones not already familiar with the magazine should probably sample some current issues first before seeking out the early issues as today’s JKC is quite a bit different in tone and content from the early years. But for those like me who love just about all of the various TwoMorrows magazines and books on the subject of comic books over the decades, I think most would enjoy going back to the very beginning and making their way from “The Jack Kirby Collector” #1 onwards (at least the first twenty something issues available in these trades paperback book collections), as I am.
I give this particularly collection (based on the magazines reprinted within it), three stars out of five on GoodReads.
Displaying 1 of 1 review