Documentary Review: Kirby at War (2017)

Also known as: Kirby at War: La Guerre De Kirby (original French title)
Release Date: November 20th, 2017 (France)
Directed by: Marc Azema, Jean Depelley
Music by: Raphael Gesqua

Metaluna Productions, Passe Simple, 52 Minutes

Review:

This was a neat little television documentary made in France about Jack Kirby’s life in World War II and how that experience inspired some of his artistic work in comics.

I found it pretty interesting and the host of the documentary actually went to some of the locations where Kirby and his company fought the Nazis. It was cool seeing these locations and having some of the battles explained.

However, this was choppily edited at times and it also felt like a lot of it was rushed through. I felt like it needed more detail and more time to let certain things marinate. But it seems like this needed to fit within the running time of a one hour format.

This would’ve benefitted from not having television constraints. Something over an hour would’ve made this a more enriching experience.

Still, if you like Jack Kirby’s work and war stories, this is a good mashup of the two.

Rating: 6/10

Comic Review: The Simon & Kirby Library: Horror!

Published: March 4th, 2014
Written by: Joe Simon
Art by: Jack Kirby

Titan Books, 320 Pages

Review:

While Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, as a creative tandem, are probably most known for their Captain America work, they also did a lot of other comics for other companies that spanned just about every genre you can think of. This is a collection of their collaborations in horror.

With that, this is my favorite collection out of the many hardcover editions of their old work that has come out.

This is a thick anthology with dozens of tales that utilize just about every type of classic monster or horror trope that you can think of.

The writing is good for the time and I always liked Simon’s style and pacing. I especially like his dialogue and how he can convey a good deal of plot and information in limited space.

More than anything else, I love this for Kirby’s art. Before superheroes became his norm, the man was known for creating some of the coolest monsters that ever graced the pages of ’40s and ’50s comics.

I get that this may be a really outdated piece of work for modern sensibilities. However, for those that actually appreciate what modern things evolved from and who have a soft spot for history, especially in pop culture, this is a really cool hardcover comic book collection to own and read.

Rating: 9/10

Vids I Dig 811: Cartoonist Kayfabe: ‘Demon’ No. 1: ’70s DC Horror, Jack Kirby Style

Comic Review: New Gods by Jack Kirby

Published: September 4th, 2018
Written by: Jack Kirby
Art by: Vince Colletta, Jack Kirby, Mike Royer

DC Comics, 424 Pages

Review:

I had never read New Gods even though I’m a big Jack Kirby fan and especially of his Mister Miracle stuff at DC and The Eternals series he created late into his Marvel career. New Gods ties to Mister Miracle and the cosmic side of DC, much of which Kirby created, and it also resembles Marvel’s Eternals. But for some odd reason, it never really appealed to me enough to read Kirby’s original run.

Now that I have, I’m somewhat underwhelmed by it.

Comparing it to Mister Miracle, New Gods lacks its spirit and jovial, optimistic nature. Comparing it to The Eternals, it seems like a proto version of what that other series would become. Frankly, I think that The Eternals did everything better and felt more fine-tuned and focused. New Gods starts off well but each issue feels kind of random.

The only things that I really enjoyed with it story-wise, was the stuff that dealt with Darkseid, Kirby’s greatest DC creation, and the first appearance of Steppenwolf, who was very different than what moviegoing DC fans know from the Justice League movie.

As with all things Jack Kirby, however, I really enjoyed the art. Granted, he didn’t do all of it but everything within this thick omnibus was done in his great, old school style.

Rating: 6.75/10

Vids I Dig 699: Cartoonist Kayfabe: The Galactus Trilogy! ‘Fantastic Four’ Issues 48-50

Vids I Dig 670: Cartoonist Kayfabe: Jack Kirby’s ‘Street Code’ – A Must See, All Too Brief, Autobiographical Masterpiece!

Vids I Dig 590: Cartoonist Kayfabe: Jack Kirby’s Comedy Kid Gang – ‘Dingbats of Danger Street’

Comic Review: Fantastic Four – Masterworks, Vol. 10

Published: May 18th, 2017
Written by: Stan Lee
Art by: Jack Kirby, John Romita Sr.

Marvel Comics, 289 Pages

Review:

Here we are, at the end of the legendary 100-plus issue run on Fantastic Four by the truly dynamic duo of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. And man, they really went out with a bang, as this final volume was packed full of many of the great characters that have been in the series since its beginning.

Now Kirby exited the series with one issue left in the final story arc that he worked on but John Romita Sr. slid right in and gave us some pretty stellar art as well. But other than the final issue, collected here, this is all Kirby and Kirby really at his best.

This is also Stan Lee at his best, as he finds a way to work in so many classic characters without this turning into a convoluted mess. The only noticeable omissions from this beefy volume were Silver Surfer, Galactus and Black Panther but just about every other character that debuted in Fantastic Four, up to this point, shows up, even if it’s just a quick cameo. Most of that happens in the 100th issue.

Beyond that, this is full of good stories and we even see the brief return of the Frightful Four, one of my favorite villain groups that gets no love in modern times.

Overall, I’m glad that I read this entire run and this was a nice cap off to a great series.

Rating: 9.25/10
Pairs well with: the other Marvel Masterworks collections.

Comic Review: Fantastic Four – Masterworks, Vol. 9

Published: March 2nd, 2017
Written by: Stan Lee
Art by: Jack Kirby

Marvel Comics, 271 Pages

Review:

As much as I like how this series has grown and evolved over the first eight Masterworks collections, I liked that this volume scaled back a little bit and brought things back to basics and with that, brought back two of the Fantastic Four’s earliest villains, Doctor Doom and the Mole Man.

This also features the Inhumans and has Crystal still filling in for Sue Storm on the team but we do get to see Sue come back and get in on the action a bit.

The Skrulls also return and it feels like they’ve been MIA for too long.

Overall, this is another really great volume in a stupendous comic book series.

I keep saying that Lee and Kirby improve with each volume and that’s still true, here. By this point, they have created such a rich, large mythos in the Marvel universe, as a whole, that I think they felt confident in slowing things down a bit and bringing our heroes up against their best foes, as opposed to creating another round of new baddies.

That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy new Lee and Kirby villains, I actually love them, but I was yearning for the classic baddies to return and this definitely filled that void. In fact, this features one of my favorite Doctor Doom story arcs of all-time.

Rating: 8.75/10
Pairs well with: the other Marvel Masterworks collections.

Comic Review: Fantastic Four – Masterworks, Vol. 8

Published: March 2nd, 2017
Written by: Stan Lee
Art by: Jack Kirby

Marvel Comics, 270 Pages

Review:

I’m now eight volumes deep into the original Stan Lee and Jack Kirby run on the Fantastic Four series and it still hasn’t lost steam!

I loved this collection of issues and it even had a story that featured the Fantastic Four alongside Daredevil, Spider-Man and Thor!

Beyond that, it gave us the debut of my second favorite Fantastic Four villain (after Doctor Doom) and that’s Annihilus.

We also see Sue leave the team due to being pregnant. With that we get the Inhumans’ Crystal taking her place as the fourth member. I’ve read some issues with this team and I always really liked Crystal being added to the mix, as her and Johnny Storm’s relationship was one of my favorites from the early era of Marvel.

Additionally, we get stories with the Silver Surfer, Psycho-Man, The Mad Thinker, The Wizard and Galactus’ big return.

I love seeing what this series has grown into and how it’s evolved over this long, storied run by Lee and Kirby. Frankly, it just keeps getting better and what happened in this series really shaped what happened in the larger Marvel universe.

The stories were enjoyable, the writing was fun and as always, Kirby’s art was simply amazing.

Rating: 9/10
Pairs well with: the other Marvel Masterworks collections.