From the 1930s to 1990s, Jack Kirby created gob-smacking art and unforgettable characters, but he was mainly a storyteller. “The Pact,” “Madbomb,” the Galactus trilogy, Captain America’s origin, Silver Star, OMAC, and even Thundarr the Barbarian are among the thousands of tales he spun solo or with collaborators. But the greatest Kirby story is the…
KIRBYOLOGY!: The Kirby-esque Joys of CANKOR: CALAMITY OF CHALLENGE
At C2E2 2019 — long before the steaming shitpile called 2020 — I first spied the work of Matthew Allison in artist’s alley. Allison’s pastel colors, inventive character designs, faceless humans, and 80s-inspired grotesqueries stand out on any shelf or at any convention, but next to so many same-old, same-old corporate comics, Cankor was an…
KIRBYOLOGY!: Getting Through 2020 with Jack Kirby
Well, this suuuuuuuucks. 2020 is making Apokolips look like Chocolate Cake Land. So who’s up for some distraction? As with life, when it comes to the massive career of Jack Kirby, it’s the little things that can mean the most. Here’s a smattering of some of those little things — little being relative, since this…
The Comics Classroom: THOR and the Eternal Return
Thor is a character who has long held a unique place in graphic/textual history as both a “comic” character — he was the creation of Stan & Larry Lee and Jack Kirby for Journey into Mystery #83 in 1962 — and as a religious/mythological figure. Few beings of genuine religious and mythological status (in the…
KIRBYOLOGY!: Peanut, Dumpling, and Big Daddy
Who needs Small, Medium, and Large when Jack Kirby gave us Peanut, Dumpling, and Big Daddy? … So I’m going to be talking about Jack Kirby at a conference for word nerds. In January, I’ll be taking a trip to New Orleans for the American Name Society’s annual conference and giving a presentation called “Baron…
KIRBYOLOGY!: Warren Ellis’s KARNAK and a Reminder to Not be the Worst
I have a superpower of sorts. I can look at anything — a crowded coffee shop, a walk in the park with my dog, a conversation with a neighbor, a ride down the elevator, or just the creaky process of getting up in the morning — and immediately predict, in great detail, how it’s going…
KIRBYOLOGY!: Two Tales of Cavemen from the Craziest Trading Cards Ever
Some people carry a Bible in their pocket for comfort or as an inefficient bulletproof vest. I carry Jack Kirby: The Unpublished Archives, a 1994 set of trading cards that feature unused Kirby concepts from his time working in animation for Ruby-Spears. To say these concepts all over the map undersells their bonkers quotient by…
KIRBYOLOGY!: Charles Glaubitz, Dickheads, and STARSEEDS
A while back I talked to Charles Glaubitz about his ongoing cosmic epic Starseeds, which has been published in two volumes so far. Here’s part two of our talk, with more of Glaubitz’s thoughts on his quantum work, Jack Kirby, and penis hats. Glaubitz’s approach to the concept of starseeds is opposed to what you’ll…
KIRBYOLOGY!: The Most Prophetic of Jack Kirby’s Orange Monsters
Jack Kirby’s comics are, often literally, a punch to the face of fascism. Some of those punches, inspired by Kirby’s harrowing experience as an army scout in World War II, flew into the future, catching America’s current top fascist squarely in the jaw. As Elana Levin discussed for The Daily Beast, anti-life evangelist Glorious Godfrey…
KIRBYOLOGY!: Jack Kirby’s Gigantic, Inspiring Imagination
Jack Kirby thought big — literally. Some of Kirby’s most memorable characters were space giants, sea monsters, orange freaks, and cosmic colossuses that towered over his other characters, who weren’t exactly teacup poodles. But even Ben Grimm is an ant compared to Galactus. I feel small lately. 2018 has been a parade of small minds, nonexistent…