THIS KIRBY, THIS KING: John Byrne Hails One of the Greatest FANTASTIC FOUR Moments

13 DAYS OF KIRBY 100: Brilliantly fantastic. Fantastically brilliant.

Welcome to 13 DAYS OF KIRBY 100, our celebration of Jack Kirby’s centennial, produced in conjunction with TwoMorrows Publishing. Over 13 days, we’re serializing the publisher’s forthcoming book KIRBY 100, edited by Jon B. Cooke and featuring essays and artistic contributions by 100 of the biggest names in comics, such as Alex Ross, Dave Gibbons, Kelley Jones, Jerry Ordway and many, many others.

For the complete 13 DAYS OF KIRBY 100 Index of stories and features, click here.

Kirby pencils, Joe Sinnott inks.

It’s unfortunate that one of Jack Kirby’s greatest co-creations, the Fantastic Four, is stuck in a bizarre, real-life version of the Negative Zone, with Marvel’s refusal to publish new adventures of its own First Family.

Thankfully, we can still read the great work of writers and artists of the past, like Kirby and one of his most celebrated successors on FF, John Byrne.

Here, Byrne pays tribute to one the greatest splash pages in comics history:

NEXT: Dave Gibbons on Kirby’s Sci-Fi Worlds. Click here.

KIRBY 100 is due to be released 8/28, the King’s 100th anniversary. It will be available in stores, online and directly through TwoMorrows (click here to order).

For the complete 13 DAYS OF KIRBY 100 Index of stories and features, click here.

Author: Dan Greenfield

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3 Comments

  1. Absolutely one of the most brilliant images from the Sliver Age and certainly one of Kirby’s best. The story holds up, a bit melodramatic but considering the era when it was done this was Shakespeare by comparison to the Distinguished Competitions output.

    I had the good fortune to get to know Mr Kirby personally and he was one of the kindest most genuine people in the industry.

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  2. I never quite bought that Reed and Sue wouldn’t have noticed that the Thing wasn’t quite acting right when the Changling walked in. But for the purposes of the story, it works…it sets up the dilemma, and the decision and resolution for the character in the end. It’s no wonder that SO many bronze age professional point to this particular issue as the peak of Lee & Kirby’s collaboration, besides the fact that it’s just half-way through their 102 issue run together…

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  1. KIRBY 100: Mike Allred on the King and the Bug | 13th Dimension, Comics, Creators, Culture - […] NEXT: John Byrne and THIS MAN … THIS MONSTER! Click here. […]
  2. The 13 DAYS OF KIRBY 100 Index | 13th Dimension, Comics, Creators, Culture - […] — JOHN BYRNE on THIS MAN… THIS MONSTER! Click here. […]
  3. THE KING 101: 13 Comics Pros Pay Tribute to JACK KIRBY | 13th Dimension, Comics, Creators, Culture - […] — JOHN BYRNE on THIS MAN… THIS MONSTER! Click here. […]

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