Recently Read: Kirby & Lee: Stuf' Said, by John Morrow

Publisher, editor and author John Morrow's chronological compendium of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's publicly spoken words concerning their decade-long collaborations is a handy document. It's liberally illustrated with examples of the art processes discussed. It's also a good reference guide for what was said when, even when the later pronouncements become (very) repetitive as both comics creator's memories calcified. Especially insightful (and surprising to me in their depth) was the prodigious number of examples of Lee either passively/aggressively - or just aggressively - denigrating Kirby, Steve Ditko and Wally Wood in the letters pages of Marvel comics. One might believe Lee was, at heart, insecure in his writing skills.

I believe the book does come with some prejudices and presumptions. For example, Ditko is described by Morrow as a "talented artist", disregarding the fact that Ditko was a writer for most of the last fifty years (at least), personally authoring his most important published work during that time. When pages from the Disney Legends program book are reproduced, no mention is made of Kirby being a writer (before, during or after his work at Marvel) - an outrageous designation that gets no pushback from Morrow. Little to no mention is made in Stuf' Said of the plethora of comics Kirby wrote before the Marvel age. Likewise, the same Disney book states that Lee "dreamed up an endless number of new characters and worlds", a boast that is demonstrably untrue. The best evidence to decide the verdict Morrow could have presented (but didn't) is Dr. Michael J. Vassallo's definitive essay detailing everything Lee wrote before he teamed up with Kirby (and Ditko): "Stan Lee (1922-2018) - The Timely Years". It's a damning document that makes clear Lee did not create the cosmic concepts Kirby had already been creating since the early '40s (if not earlier). https://timely-atlas-comics.blogspot.com/2018/12/stan-lee-1922-2018-timely-years.html

Lastly, the book's cover, with psychedelic Captain Victory art blown up out of context and covered with large digital fonts, is ugly. While conveying some of the anger expressed by Kirby, the cover could have looked more welcoming and it's noteworthy that nowhere is the book's designer listed.

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Recently Read: Fantastic Four: Full Circle, by Alex Ross

 

Alex Ross finally gets the opportunity to write and draw classic Marvel characters in Fantastic Four: Full Circle, an oversized, hardbound production from Marvel and Abrams. A sequel to the classic "This Man, This Monster" published in 1966 in The Fantastic Four No. 51, Full Circle finds the FF journeying back into the Negative Zone, a dimension which allows Ross to indulge in trippy, psychedelic visuals. Using a more ink-based art style here, with experimental color palettes, the book has a unique and visionary feel.

Though it doesn't have the cohesiveness or poignancy of Kirby and Lee's original story, it does lay the groundwork for future story ideas to be exploited, and consistently pays heartfelt homage to a stupendous time in cartooning history.

Along with Barry Windsor-Smith's recent Monsters graphic novel (originally proposed as a Hulk story), Full Circle confirms (again) that there's much to be gained by mainstream publishers allowing top-notch cartoonists to create their own stories using the publisher's properties. Steve Rude, long left out in the cold, is another amazing talent Marvel could invite in for project or two.

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Recently Read: Golden Age Captain America Vol. 4

Golden Age Captain America Comics Vol. 4, comprising C.A. issues 13-16, spotlights the work of penciler Al Avison. Continuing after the departure of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Avison has the thankless task of attempting to emulate Kirby's anatomy, body language, pacing and idiosyncratic panel border designs. He even tries a few double page spreads. Nothing, not the art or stories, captures the innovative fun of his predecessors, though Stan Lee does have The Red Skull learning Cap's secret identity in issue 16.

Speaking of Lee, his "whimsical" series The Imp, he who lives in an ear, is plain unreadable. The series is fleshed out with the stories of a kid superhero, the U.S. war bond and stamp-selling Secret Stamp. It's enjoyable as an example of rousing WWII propaganda.

Golden Age Captain America Comics Vol. 4 has little redeeming or incidental qualities in terms of storytelling, as Simon and Kirby's issues did. As such, it's mainly for completists or those interested in the day-to-day, average product of Timely at the time.
 

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Recently Read: According to Jack Kirby, by Michael Hill

 

Michael Hill has done comics historians a service in compiling and publishing this collection of cartoonist Jack Kirby's memories and thoughts on his career. While the longer living and outgoing spokesman Stan Lee's interpretation of events has held sway in the general public's mind, in-depth comics readers and historians have long been able to differentiate the two creator's distinctive voices and contributions. Despite what any creator might say, the proof is in the published work (and the photocopied original art, with Kirby's story notes in the margins). What Kirby relates in the book's compiled quotes jibes with the historical evidence and shores up his contention that he wrote the stories in Marvel's seminal '60s work and created the initial characters. In short, Lee claiming he was the writer of the work insured more money for him and less money for Kirby (and other cartoonists who were also creating stories on the series they worked on, like Steve Ditko and John Romita, Sr.). This was an injustice perpetuated by later owners of Marvel.

Loaded with copious footnotes, the book covers decades of Kirby being outspoken on his contributions. Because the scope of the book mainly covers what Kirby said, some evidence which would help confirm his beliefs isn't covered: Dr. Michael Vassallo's extensively researched chronological analysis of Stan Lee scripts, for example, shows conclusively that Lee's "creativity" began when Kirby rejoined Marvel in the late '50s, and mysteriously left Lee when Kirby quit Marvel for DC in 1970. Conversely, the book deals little with Lee's distinctive 1960s voice which, whether one enjoys it or not, was highly instrumental in creating a new jovial and audience-connecting informality in comics (compared to DC's straight-laced and patronizing editorial voice), but which is, again, outside the scope of this book.

The incident of Lee rejecting a Kirby Hulk story and the resultant output of Kirby in the month of March, 1963, is a fascinating connection and a new avenue to explore in the complex story of these two creators.

There are ways According to Jack Kirby could be bettered. Some commentators are quoted with no context or explanation of who they are or why their opinion is of importance. Some reproduced art could be of higher resolution quality. And, the book uses some quotes too repetitively. I'm hoping a future edition can correct these attributes. Still, the book is an essential addition, and appreciators of Kirby's work have Michael Hill to thank for the hard work and initiative to put together what is, ultimately, a damning and important document.

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Uncle Stan Wants You to Buy Crazy

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Joe Kubert Art

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Stan Lee, RIP

Lee as Zeus, King of the Gods, in my Odysseus Rex graphic novel, in progress.

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Recently Read: Marvel Comics: the Untold Story, by Sean Howe

I recommend this compelling and well-researched overview of Marvel Comics' history. It wisely doesn't dwell on Marvel's earliest days, which is being covered in Michael Vassello and Blake Bell's The Secret History of Marvel Comics: Jack Kirby and the Moonlighting Artists at Martin Goodman's Empire. Nor does it dwell on the story of the Silver Age of the '60s, a period which has been described and dissected in numerous books and countless essays and articles.

Instead, Howe's book concentrates on the '70s when, after Stan Lee left the helm, a blur of editorships allowed for a brief flourishing of artistic freedom and experimentation, followed by what you might call the corporatization of the company, starting with the micro-managing of Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter. There's then a succession of corporate mergers and acquisitions, leading to comics that literally became less readable, if not unreadable, as the decades rolled on (though Marvel has pulled itself out of artistic purgatory over the last eight years or so).

Marvel Comics: the Untold Story is informed by a wealth of interviews with writers, artists, office personnel, editors and the like. If you lived through this era, as I did, and care about the rise and downfall of a great publishing company, you'll find this book hard to set down.

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Recently Read: Lee and Kirby: The Wonder Years

AKA The Jack Kirby Collector #58. The late Mark Alexander's book gives a fine overview of Lee and Kirby's ten year run on The Fantastic Four. Liberally illustrated with both printed art samples and original pencils, The Wonder Years also includes plenty of photos and new anecdotes/info from those who worked in the Marvel offices in the '60s. Highly recommended for fans of the greatest superhero comic book series of all.

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Recently Read: Comics On Trial - the Kirby Estate vs. Disney/Marvel

Not essential reading, but an interesting document nonetheless.

Just reading the transcripts of Lee, Thomas and Romita, you'd come away thinking that Stan Lee basically plotted most of the '60s Marvel comics which Kirby drew - which doesn't seem to be the case, looking at the evidence (the original art, the printed books and the creative output of Lee and Kirby before and after the '60s).

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Kraa, the Unhuman!

From Tales of Suspense #18 (1961), by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers.

Kraa became a member of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Howling Commandos Monster Force in 2005.

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