[Komandi]

Very nice to meet you all. 

I'm been getting back into comics recently after a 35+ year absence.  I used to be the biggest Kirby fan EVER back in the day.  I'm still a huge Fantastic Four fan; I had every FF issue 1 through 100 when I was a kid.  I'm in the US.  I retire in a year and a half.  I think digital comics are the best thing to happen in years.  I've bought all the Marvel DVD collections that were available, but my thirst will never END ...  Mwahahaha!  (Oh... sorry). 

Happy to be here!   

/Waves to everyone

[Astaldo711]

Welcome aboard Komandi! You'll find a slew of comics here. I also bought several of the Marvel DVD collections. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a Kirby issue. It seems every early Marvel comic was by Kirby. I never used to like his work but I've recently really started to like his stuff. I think it's all the FF I was reading. I started at 1 and at about 35 or so.

[narfstar]

Welcome aboard Kam. I am not sure what issue I started FF but it was fairly early. I leaned more to the Avengers and XMen (old not new) but I have the first couple Essential FF and they are great. I think many times black and white showcases the artists talent better than color. I liked Kirby up until his 4th world stuff when everyone one got a barrel chest even the women. I then hated his return to Marvel and what he did to Cap and the Falcon. Regardless of my opinion of his later work his GA and SA stuff rocks.

[Homeway]

Agreed about the latter day Kirby art.

In my opinion, the first few issues of his 4th World at DC had the spark and style of his older work, but at some point in there - a few issues into those series - the tipping point came, and his artwork had a serious quality slide. No doubt due to age, eye problems, discouragement with DC, or a mixture of all three. But those early 4th World comics were the last time I truly enjoyed his stuff.

Homeway

[narfstar]

The early Jimmy Olsen's and New Gods were not bad.

[bchat]

I'ld like to see ANY of today's artists try to crank-out 3 books a month for any length of time and not have the quality of their artwork suffer.  Regardless of the level of quality his work may or may not have had, Kirby had a work ethic that's unmatched by any of today's "hot artists".

[Astaldo711]

I always thought Kirby was too "blocky" - the opposite of Ditko who to me was too "stringy" if that makes sense. Like in those old He-Man cartoons - every male was ripped even Duncan the old guy. He must have been about 40!

[narfstar]

I did not mind Kirby's blocky guys but so were his gals. Ditko's women were usually not very pretty or sexy.
Some of Ditko's work just blows me away while others just blow

[Astaldo711]

Yep. The problem is that they are both held in such high regard that it's almost sacrilegious to say otherwise. They have such distinctive styles that you can look at a picture and know it's them. As I said I've really started warming up to Kirby. My favorite is John Byrne. That may be just because he was everywhere when I got into comics in the mid 80's. 

[narfstar]

And he was everywhere because he was a fan favorite. He just does not impact me

[Astaldo711]

As I've started reading the old Marvels I have on DVD I'm finding others that I like as well like John Romita and Sal Buscema. My favorite series is The Avengers but for some reason the early issues by Don Heck I don't like.

[Komandi]

Yep. The problem is that they are both held in such high regard that it's almost sacrilegious to say otherwise. They have such distinctive styles that you can look at a picture and know it's them. As I said I've really started warming up to Kirby. My favorite is John Byrne. That may be just because he was everywhere when I got into comics in the mid 80's. 

John Byrne's FF was the reason I got back into comics.  I picked up one of his "FF Visionaries" a couple of years back and got so nostalgic that there was just no going back. 

He's a hell of a character though.  Do you frequent his web site? 

But yeah, I've got a couple of Kirby's last books and the people are almost unrecognizable as humans.  'So sad.  'So sad that people who were clueless about his importance to the industry started calling him "Jack the Hack". 

[Astaldo711]

Never saw his site. I'll have to check it out.
I guess some people think that since he worked for so long and pumped out so many pieces of work, he must be a sellout or his work is watered down.

[Komandi]

I did not mind Kirby's blocky guys but so were his gals. Ditko's women were usually not very pretty or sexy.
Some of Ditko's work just blows me away while others just blow

It's funny how much Kirby changed from the golden-to-the-silver age.  His old Captain America wasn't blocky at all.  There was a lot more fluidity.  He could always lay out a page like nobody else though. 

I'm looking forward to reading the Spider-Man DVD and seeing all that Ditko work again! 

[Astaldo711]

I have it on DVD myself. I love how every single page is scanned in. I was just thinking that about Kirby. You can notice a vague similarity but not one that jumps out at you. If I looked at a bunch of different artists from the GA I wouldn't be able to pick him out but his later stuff jumps out at you.

[Ami_GFX]

Jack Kirby was a visual story teller as opposed to a fine illustrator. He was amazingly consistent in his work and the quality of his art depends a lot on who inked him. I can't think of a single specific example where he inks his own work. And whoever had to ink his work had to be able to keep up with him.

I came of age in the 1970s and have just about everything he did between 1970 and 1975 and lately have been reading the first 10 issues of the Fantastic Four and a lot of his pre superhero work for Atlas/Marvel and they all are different branches of the same tree to me. And ironically, some of my favorite Kirby pieces are the ones he seemed to rush though the fastest with the least attention to detail--just carried away with the story and he had an amazing ability to make things exciting visually even if the details fall apart on close examination. The secret was the he kept things moving so you never noticed the fine details in the excitement of the story.

No, Jack Kirby was not a detail man, but he was a great story teller.

[narfstar]

Which is why he is considered the King. His GA stuff is ALIVE

[narfstar]

Thanks for trying to support the site Komandi but you should post before uploading. Classics Illustrated are not public domain.

[Ami_GFX]

Which is why he is considered the King. His GA stuff is ALIVE

All of his work is Alive from the Golden Age on. Exciting and dynamic are the words to describe Kirby's art. He had better and worse moments but the excitement was always there.

[Komandi]

Thanks for trying to support the site Komandi but you should post before uploading. Classics Illustrated are not public domain. 

Noted.  I still don't have a good feel for what is allowed and what is not yet.  Can you place that category on the "don't upload" list for others to see? 

[narfstar]

I will try to remember to do that later gotta get ready for work, bills you know.
It is pretty much a default thing. If you do not see any here then do not upload without asking.