I've been looking for this book for around 25 years. Because DC - and the comics publishing industry - neglected Kirby back in the 1990s and 2000s, this book, along with others from Kirby's late period (the 1970s and 1980s), was hard to come by. In the present decade, publishers have realised that nostalgic Generation Xers are willing to pay money - and lots of it - for reprints of classic material. They have released nearly everything from Kirby's back catalogue in handsome hardcover volumes which are overpriced. I was lucky enough to find this book in the bargain bin for only $20. I want the companion volume - Jack Kirby's In the Days of the Mob - but will wait until it comes down in price.
In some ways, the essay that comes with this book - by Kirby biographer Mark Evanier - is more interesting than the Kirby stories therein. I was appalled to learn that DC effectively buried the book and In the Days-: they were ashamed of the books and published them through a dummy company - 'Hampshire Distributors Ltd.' - without any attempt at promotion so as to offload them. The business practices of DC have always struck me as being rather odd and self-defeating. It remains a mystery to me why they cancelled all of Kirby's Fourth World titles despite their popularity (DC claimed that the books didn't sell, but I don't believe them). I don't know exactly what Kirby himself thought of such shabby treatment, but he seems to have taken it all in his stride.
Fans know what to expect in this volume. We find the usual spectacular artwork. A few of the early stories are inked by the horrible Vince Colletta - a man who ruined many a Kirby issue - but after that, Mike Royer (?) takes over. We are plunged into the Kirby universe - of handsome, two-fisted WASP men who wear suits and smoke pipes; beautiful, buxom women; hideous, craggy-faced, neanderthal-looking villains; grotesque monsters which are often quaint-looking (such as the 'Mandarin Dog'); photo collages; and shiny 'cosmic' superheroes with metallic skin.
The theme of this book - the paranormal and pseudo-science - was close to Kirby's heart. I think one can distinguish between the two Kirbys at the two stages of his career: the New York Jack and the California Jack. After he moved to California, Kirby, if his work is anything to go by, became fascinated with the paranormal schlock and the theories of Von Däniken. He also became convinced that humanity was about to evolve into a god-like race of supermen. Andrew Weiss calls this philosophy 'Aquarian', which it is; it's also very Californian. One can dismiss Kirby's world view as outdated, but, through the medium of his pages, I find it enticing. Many have paid homage to Kirby - see the excellent series Godland, by Joe Casey and Tom Scioli - and Kirby's characters from the Californian period have been used again and again. But none of those who came after Kirby seemed to 'get' Kirby; they didn't really quite believe in Kirby's ideas and world view, at least not with the same fervour.
I'm very pleased with this volume, but I'm biased - I don't recommend it for anyone except the Kirby completist. If you want the best of Kirby's 1970s work for DC, start with the four volumes of Jack Kirby's Fourth World and then move on to Jack Kirby's OMAC, Jack Kirby's The Demon, and Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth. You'll find that the work he did for Marvel in the 1970s is great too, but that's another story.
Mark Hootsen signing off.
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