Some 25 years ago, Jack Kirby's art was finally returned to him from Marvel, well at least a fraction returned. In the late 80s, collectors could purchase art directly from the Roselyn and Jack Kirby and later, in the 90's and after, also through Mike Thibodeaux. New art was periodically being released to the market through the then new, Jack Kirby Collector magazine and comic cons, especially the San Diego Comic Con International well into the 2000s. I remember the first SDCCI I attended in 2000 where complete stories of The Demon, Mister Miracle, several Machine Man and Devil Dinosaur issues were up for purchase on dealer tables. In most cases, they came direct from the Kirbys or Mike. Prices seemed incredibly high but compared to today, they were cheap.
Today the flow of new art directly from the Kirby clan has slowed to a trickle. A good portion of the art you see on dealer's and auction houses websites has made their rounds from dealer to collector to dealer to dealer to collector etc. The value of Jack Kirby art has increased so much that many collectors can't afford to buy new art so they need to use their collections for trade to get anything new.
So when the opportunity to purchase an almost complete Kirby story from 1954 became available I had to jump on it! It turned out that Jack's grandson, Jeremy Kirby was selling it and it was direct from the family, three degrees of separations: Jack Kirby to Roselyn Kirby to Jeremy Kirby to me. No collectors or dealers in-between. What if Kirby is happy to present these pages for the first time for all to enjoy! If you're interested in these pages in WiK Gallery, go here »
Click on any page below to see a slideshow.
This is a great story, Tom...
...and you're lucky to have these beautiful pages. Little wonder this gem was included in Titan's BEST OF SIMON AND KIRBY!
From 1954...
...these pages will be 58 years old in 2012. Those are some awesome pages you got there, Tom.
very cool tom!
congrats on picking them up!
they look beautiful!
Thank you
I consider myself very fortunate to be the caretaker of these pages. Art like this will last generations. This is the first Simon-Kirby art I own. Its only because of this site and scanning all the great earlier pages of art that I've acquired an appreciation for this era.
Xmas
Thanks for the Christmas gift that you have done to us. One question: but the ink has overwritten the original pencils or the original's pencil still exist? (Apologize my English)
Pencils and inks
Hi Roberto, glad you like this post. In this period of Kirby's work, the pencils we covered with ink to produce the final page, ready for reproduction. Later in Jack's career in the 80s/90s, for Super Powers among others's his pencils were light box inked, saving his original pencils.
Perfect Choice
Tom, Thanks, and you couldn't have made a better choice. What could be better than a story written, penciled, and inked by Jack Kirby, and one of Jack's war stories as well.
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