Tag: Jack Kirby

Great Covers – BOY COMMANDOS #24

Credited to the Simon & Kirby Studio, this BOY COMMANDOS cover might be the work of Jack Kirby, or it might not. Either way, it makes its impact through the juxtaposition of the immaculate attributes of Superman and the down-to-Earth dead-end kid values of Brooklyn. As always, the yellow background functions like a spotlight.

Great Covers – X-MEN #16

Here’s another excellent Jack Kirby cover to X-MEN. It’s a bit strange for a super hero cover in that we’re seeing almost all of the heroes from the back, where common wisdom would want at least one of them turned towards the camera, so as to engage the reader–nothing commands the attention of a viewer … Continue reading Great Covers – X-MEN #16 →

Great Covers – KAMANDI #23

Another Jack Kirby cover, this one for his KAMANDI series from the early 1970s. This piece just screams for attention. The shark-as-monster who dominates the image to the inclusion of virtually everything else is powerful enough, but the fact that he speaks, and his line is at once so obtuse and yet also so provocative, … Continue reading Great Covers – KAMANDI #23 →

Great Covers – FANTASTIC FOUR #82

A very basic but very dramatic FANTASTIC FOUR cover by Jack Kirby, emphasizing the scope of the cast and implying the energy and excitement of the story within. In rare restraint, this cover features no copy whatsoever, allowing the image itself to do the work of selling it. A white background here was almost a … Continue reading Great Covers – FANTASTIC FOUR #82 →

Great Covers – RAWHIDE KID #39

Nothing about the size relationships on this RAWHIDE KID cover by Jack Kirby makes any sense–but the cover works anyway, because it’s about a giant ape hoisting the Kid over its head! Rawhide is perfectly framed by the yellow background, and the light grey of the tiny town also causes the ape to pop. Me, … Continue reading Great Covers – RAWHIDE KID #39 →

Great Covers – FANTASTIC FOUR #33

It doesn’t completely work, but this Jack Kirby cover to FANTASTIC FOUR combines a photographic collage with hand-drawn figures. Throughout much of the 1960s and 1970s, Kirby experimented with incorporating collages into his comics work–he apparently produced them often, to relax. But the printing technology of the time, especially on the interior pages, wasn’t really … Continue reading Great Covers – FANTASTIC FOUR #33 →

Great Covers – MISTER MIRACLE #2

This MISTER MIRACLE cover by Jack Kirby really shouldn’t work, and yet somehow it does. Especially at the start, Kirby’s assorted Fourth World covers received some horrific coloring, as though the DC production staff couldn’t figure out quite what to do with them. (They typically emphasized the wrong elements.) but here, the coloring works nicely. … Continue reading Great Covers – MISTER MIRACLE #2 →

Great Covers – THOR #127

A much emulated Jack Kirby cover, this THOR image is the earliest example I can find of one hero holding the dead body of somebody else (though the pose comes out of classical sculpture and painting.) The deep purple background sets a somber mood, but the white glow around the figures silhouettes them perfectly and … Continue reading Great Covers – THOR #127 →

Great Covers – KAMANDI #20

Another Jack Kirby piece, this KAMANDI cover really shouldn’t work at all–and yet it does. The tiny figure of the hero with his back towards the camera, lots of dead space and only sparse wreckage to give it all a sense of place. But the two bits of Kirby cover copy cement the whole piece … Continue reading Great Covers – KAMANDI #20 →