Category Archives: Jack Kirby

The Greatest Cover Blurbs Ever (This Week)

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A while back, I got an Ask Chris question wondering why cover blurbs had fallen out of fashion, and my only answer is that publishers realized that they had already done the greatest ones that could ever be done. Today, to back that up, I’ve posted a gallery of my favorite cover blurbs ever.

Really, this article could’ve just been about how amazing Punisher War Journal #19, but there’s some classic stuff in there, including a run of entries by the Heavyweight Champion of blurbs, Jack Kirby!

My Jack Kirby Character Sketchbook: It’s “Pretty Rad!!”

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I’ve been sidelined with illness for the past couple of days, but the con crud’s not the only thing I brought back from this year’s HeroesCon! I decided to start a new sketchbook this year with the theme of characters created or co-created by The King, Jack Kirby! Over at ComicsAlliance, I’ve posted my first ten awesome Kirby sketches, from artists like Ming Doyle, Tom Fowler, Declan Shalvey and more. They’re incredible, and the artists who did them are fan-darn-tastic!

Ask Chris #54: The Mythology of the New Gods

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This week in Ask Chris, I lay out the mythology and meaning behind Jack Kirby’s New Gods, with an exploration of what they mean and why they operate on a grander scale than just about any other super-hero in comics.

I also stick to my promise to not mention Batman even once in this column, and brother, you have no idea how difficult it was to not segue from Kirby into Morrison at the end and get around to Batman being the Orion of the Fifth World. I could’ve gone on for hours.

The 7 Most Awesome Moments From Jack Kirby’s Captain America

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This week, Marvel is releasing a massive omnibus of Jack Kirby’s 1976 run on Captain America, and while I’m not a fan of the bulky omnibus format (I’ve got the issues in the three trades they put out a few years back), I do love the hell out of those comics. That’s why today, I’m shouting out the seven most awesome, insane, and otherwise Kirbyesque moments from the run, including some extremely accurate predictions of the future.

I mean, sure, Roller Derby might not look like Kirby’s verison, or involve rocket skateboards, or involve, you know, dudes, but it did come back! And that’s all that really matters.

Ask Chris #34: Beyond Jack Kirby’s Fourth World and the Secrets of the Batcave

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In this week’s installment of my weekly Q&A column, I get asked about Jack Kirby’s New Gods, Walter Simonson, and Batman, and amazingly I managed to finish that column before I hit 40,000 words.

I’m a little wordy when it comes to certain subjects is what I’m saying here.

One thing I didn’t get around to including in the article is that Orion is frequently very funny, and has one of my favorite sight gags in comics. During the “Joker’s Last Laugh” tie-in — possibly the only good thing to come out of that particular crossover — there’s a scene where Slig of the Deep Six hits Orion three times while he’s got the advantage, then Orion counters and swears to repay Slig threefold for what he’s endured!

So you turn the page, and then it’s just nine panels of Orion punching Slig in the face. The same two panels, repeated nine times. It is hilarious. So I made a .gif of it:

 

 

If you’ve got a question you’d like to see me take on in a future installment, just put it up on Twitter with the hashtag #AskChris or send an email with [Ask Chris] in the subject line to comicsalliance at gmail.com!