Surfer 1975

Jack's cover for the 1975 Comic Art Convention Program book. The image was reproduced directly from Jack's original pencils. Below that the Kirby/Sinnott cover to Fantastic Four # 50 (May 1966).

Unpublished Thor Art

An unpublished panel of Thor's alter-ego Dr. Don Blake. Stan Lee wrote a message on the side "Sol. Save for inking sample." Luckily this was not used as an inking "test." Jack's Margin notes say: "Blake describes exhilaration of becoming Thor -- The surge of great strength -- and his thought of moving boulder."
Apparently Jack wanted the panel to introduce this flashback sequence in Thor # 158 (Nov. 1968), but Lee decided against it. Pages 7 and 8 below were first published in Journey Into Mystery # 83 (Aug 1962).

In Love # 3

A page of original art from In Love # 3 (1955). You can see quite a few paste-ups and white-out on the page, so this appears to be a story that was "cannibalized" or pieced together from old, unused art probably in Jack and Joe Simon's files. According to the Jack Kirby Checklist (2008), this story was assembled from unused Inky comic strips, with additional material added.

Entertainment Tonight

Here are some screen caps from a bootleg video of Jack's appearance on Entertainment tonight. Jack at work in his studio, drawing the host of the segment as a damsel in distress, and doing some gardening in his yard.

FF # 90 Splash

Here's a scan from the original artwork of page 1 from Fantastic Four # 90 (Sep 1967). A strange piece, all of the characters (except the Torch) are looking downwards, and there is no action -- you'd think Jack would use this entire page as an excuse to do something explosive, instead of having the characters all sitting around shoegazing.

I love Sinnott's inks on this piece. Wonderfully detailed linework on all the characters. Jack and Joe could make four people doing nothing still work as a piece of artwork.

Note the fine linework on Sue's hair. Sinnott was a marksman with a pen and a brush.

Notice how messy the published splash is. The colors, especially on Sue Storm, obscure Sinnott's detailed linework. The image looks smudgy, for lack of a better word. The red of the title jumps out at you and the characters seem to disappear into the green background. A great example of how the original artwork gives you a different perspective on the actual illustration.

Alarming Tales # 4 pg. 5

On the Jack Kirby-l forum we were discussing Jack's text on the 1950s DC books -- did Jack write those stories and how did he add text? Did he add it to the original artwork or type out a script. Patrick Ford pointed out that Jack wrote text on the artwork in the 1970s so that may have been his method at DC in the 1950s as well. Here was my initial opinion:

(My edited comments)

Jack added text on the artwork in the 1970s, but according to Mark Evanier he added it all after drawing an entire 20 page story. In other words, Jack was working "Marvel Method" -- Jack had found it was easier to dash out the art (in two weeks) and add text later (in about 4 hours).

We know in the 60s, at first Jack worked from Lee plots & Larry Lieber scripts, and eventually in late 1963 started adding margin notes. All I'm asking is has anyone seen examples of 50s originals where Jack's text is visible? I've seen 100s of 70s originals where Jack's text is visible underneath the letters. It's not usually completely erased. In fact, you can see it all over the artwork in the 1970s -- the letterer has to add a grid with a ruler and make the letters perfectly spaced -- Jack's original text was not, so much of it shows up on originals.

The theory that Kirby wrote text on the artwork in the 50s at DC is interesting, but is there any evidence? If not, I suspect Jack worked form a type-written script. And if Jack did submit a story, I also suspect he submitted a type-written script. In the 1950s at DC I 'd guess it would be easier for an editor to look at a type-written script and approve that script (plus make changes) than to try and decipher Jack's handwritten text on the original artwork, which would then have to be deciphered again by the letterer. Another reason why Mike Royer was such a professional -- I don't even know if Mike got extra pay for adding letters on Jack's 70s stuff.

So while intriguing to think of Jack working Marvel Method in the 50s (drawing stories and adding text) at DC, I honestly don't know of any evidence that suggests this was the case. But I'm not an expert on that material.

(End of my comments)

I went ahead and looked at the very first 1950s scan I have in my files. Here's a page from Alarming Tales # 4 pg. 5 (1958), from the Heritage Auction website.

You can see text in this thought balloon, but it's hard to tell if this is Jack's handwriting.

In this bubble the word "The" and "Rocket" looks like Jack's handwriting to me, so it does appear in the 1950s Jack was adding text to the original artwork. This book was published by Harvey so Jack may have been writing and editing the material, but I don't know if he worked using the same method at DC in the 1950s, although it certainly is possible -- a close analysis of any surviving Kirby 1950s DC originals might give us some clues as to who wrote those stories.

FF 100 Cover

The published cover to Fantastic Four # 100, followed by a scan of the original artwork. One of my favorite Kirby/Sinnott covers. A close-up of Joe's terrific inks.

Star Spanged Comics # 8 Cover

Another classic Simon/Kirby cover. Some close-ups of the action from a scan of the original artwork below, and a copy of the publised comic from 1942.

Green Lantern

Last month a lot of people were talking about the new Green Lantern movie (the release date is scheduled as June 17, 2011 in the USA). Apparently some fans weren't pleased with the skin-tight, painted-on costume. The negative buzz generated by the silly debate about the uniform probably helped the flick get some publicity.

Now that DC has unsaturated the market with Superman and Batman movies, cartoons, video games, toys, etc., I guess they're trying to make some money off of their B-list properties like Green Lantern. I suppose movies like Green Arrow and Krypto the Supedog can't be far behind. I suppose if the Green Lantern movie gets fantastic reviews I'll check it out when it eventually hits video on-demand, but I for one have been bored by this explosion in superhero films for awhile. Here's a rare example of Jack working on the character from the Super Powers mini-series. Inks by Greg Theakston.

Super Powers # 1, pg. 14

Super Powers # 3, pg. 23

Jack & Roz

This is one of my favorite photographs of Jack and his wife. They look like movie starts to me. I wonder how different their lives would have been if they had moved to Hollywood in the 1940s. It's amazing how where you live has such a tremendous impact on your career choice. It's unlikely Kirby would ever have even considered being a comics artist if he hadn't been born in such a hotbed of publishing like NYC. This image originally appeared in Greg Theakston's The Complete Jack Kirby Vol. 2 (1997). Thanks to Mark Luebker for providing the beautiful scan.