The long awaited Mark Evanier Jack Kirby biography is due out at the beginning of next month and towards the end of October the Completely Mad Don Martin (2 volume slipcase 1200 pages).
Kirbyramadamadingdong! Cheers for the heads up Mr Nimbus! Save me a copy of the Cosmic Kirby opus please, Mr OKComicsman!
As pennance for failing to note The King's birthday last week I present my own 20-years-in-the-making biography of The Cosmic One free of charge:
Aug 28th 1917 - Born. 1918 to 1939 - is a scrappy little rascal. Helps Beat Hitler and Tojo. Teaches himself how to draw comics. 1940 - 1994* - Draws comics that will be enjoyed as long as people still have eyes. Feb 6th 1994 - Ascends to Heaven.
*May 23 1942 - has the afternoon off to marry Rosalind "Roz" Goldstein.
you forgot 2008 - Marvel publishes Fantasic Four issue drawn by Kirby
Even though Kirby drew so many comics, people still grumble over the ones he didn't get to finish, like his adaptation of McGoohan's prisoner, or a proper ending to the Fourth World saga.
He wasn't perfect, and sometimes it took other people to bring the most out of his concepts, but he had a fascinating career. From the first appearance of Captain America to the Marvel Age to the Fourth World to being one of the rallying points of the Creator's Rights movement.
Which came first? Superman abducting Hitler in a 2 page comic or Kirby's Captain America punching Hitler in the face?
Just read OKO's question ~ so that would be the 2 pager produced in 1940 for Look magazine, and Cap punching Hitler in the face on the cover of the first issue Captain America comics cover dated March 1941.
Fie! Still, gives me time to save my pennies. Anyone know what we're talking about here? Is a normal hardback with the odd illo, or a large coffe table thing packed with cosmic cartoons and wise words? Has a price been announced? Am I excited? Yes. Maybe they'll release it on the anniversary of his Ascencion (Feb 6th).
I'm really looking forward to "I Killed Adolf Hitler" (the book I've been telling everyone's called Lets Go Back In Time And Kill Hitler). Not exactly sure what it's acbout but it features time travel and hitler, and based on Jason's previous books it'll be very good. Previous highlights are Hey Wait, a heartbreaking study of childhood loss; Left Bank Gang, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, F Scott Fitzgerald etc quit comics to become thieves; and Living And The Dead, a Zombie Romance. His next book, out in December, is about the last surviving musketeer defending the earth from robots, or something.
Just when you think comics have gone rubbish, you get a week like this week. The second Essex County book is out, Canadian Pathos at it's best. Eating Steve, about a girl obsessed with snacking on her boyfriends brains. I don't know what "Igor Fixed By Frankensteins" is, but it sounds ace. There's a collection of James Sturms bestest amaricana history comics. A new Will Eisner biography. And the first Chris Staros graphic novel for totally ages.... And don't forget, all our favorite Marvel comics are being released with sh1t zombie variants.
That Jason comic, I Killed Adolf Hitler, is the best graphic novel I've read for ages. More inventive and full of plot twists than a years worth of X-Men. The premise is pretty simple. A present day hitman is given the job of killing Hitler, and uses a Time Machine (that can only be used for one round trip every 50 years) to go get him. But Hitler gets away and comes into the modern world.... all this happens in the first third of the book. The story is mainly about the ability to requite unrequited love, it's funny and sad in equal measure. Completely Amazing. If I go into more detail I'll ruin the twists. Just read it.
Sounds mega, Ill have to check out Lets Go Back In Time and Kill Hitler (better title), this Jason guy seems to have escaped me? His stuff sounds good, whats the artwork like?
