I’ve heard a lot of people dissing Devil Dinosaur, even in the pages of the Jack Kirby collector magazine. For me, it’s an underappreciated classic that at first (Issues 1-3) deals with themes of survival through cooperation between species. This alone sets it far above the average superhero fare. Issues 4-7 take the series in a abrupt new direction when aliens kidnap the prehistoric animals for experimentation (something only hinted at in the Eternals series, but shown here in full). Kirby scarred my impressionable ’70′s mind with shocking images of vivisection aboard a U.F.O., and I loved it.

There’s actually a lot going on in this series and it deserves a re-examination. I think its a good series to give as an introduction to someone. I gave it to my brother who has never read comics and he loved it! Even though he’s a biology professor, he wasn’t bothered by Kirby placing dinosaurs together with primitive man, and instead was delighted by the series’ exploration of Darwinian ideas about evolution and survival. If I had given my brother Fantastic Four to read, I don’t think he would have enjoyed it as much.

Like the residents of Asgard and Olympus before them, the residents of Metropolis, Gotham, and New York all represent a drama of humanity played out by immortal figures.

I have to wonder if there is a simularity between the reception of Kirby’s work back then and the reception of Grant Morrison’s work now. Some people are calling him such because of the different ways he looks at DC characters. Other people, such as myself, see Morrison’s work as highly confusing and steeped in its own mythology that only makes sense to him.

Could you say the same thing about Kirby when the New Gods first debut? Did people see the use of Mother Boxes and Space Deity’s too confusing and self involved? I wish I could hear some perspective from someone who didn’t like Kirby when he first came out.

I’d love to see Machine Man get the same treatment as Devil Dinosaur, although I assume that’s tangled up with 2001: A Space Odyssey rights issues, as a spin-off.

Love the column, though; I’m a guy who does his best to introduce people who don’t read comics to reasons they should, and both your entries so far have listed great places to start.

There really is something for everyone. One can still know much love for the part with only glimpsing those bright spots still illuminating the farther horizon.

So yes if you haven’t read Demon yet, there is still time and there is still the force of that recommendation of what part, small or large, you have discovered and found devotion for.

I have in the monthly issues everything for which Kirby did interior pencils from 1968 to his death. I have lots of stuff from the earlier years too. Anything reprinted of Kirby’s going back to 1939 I have tried to gather and enjoy. The thing is there is always something new to discover and appreciate in Jack Kirby’s voluminous output. One day I’ll pick up 1976 Black Panther stuff and the next 1952 Boys Ranch and I’ll see such a wonderful variance, but also such a common and continuous dynamic strain that is the hallmark of a man who helped define the history of American comic books, and I’ll still know that I’ll never tire of the wonderful legacy the King of Comics has left us.

Thanks again for a nice overview.

And as much as I like The New Gods, I enjoy The Eternals more. Something about Kirby’s second coming at Marvel that really speaks to me — it’s all great stuff!

As a kid, I hated Kirby, while being strangely attracted by him. I only saw reprints of his FF but the cover of OMAC #1 SCARED THE HELL out of me. Kamandi is a CLASSIC. (I only read Machine Man when Ditko was drawing it.)

In any other artistic field, a guy like Kirby would have streets, towns and stadiums named after him. When Stan Lee FINALLY dies and every obituary calls him “The Creator Of The Marvel Universe:, I’m afraid I’m going to have to stab a lot of obituary writers.

Modern readers may find Stan Lee unbearable to read, but his books were solid sellers, and the work shall remain. The writing was very methodic. Stan, the writer AND editor-in-chief always kept in mind that new readers were jumping aboard whichever the 15 monthlies he was publishing mostly alone until around 1965. Of course, you can’t write like that anymore in the comic field. A lot of water has passed under the bridge.

But Kirby’s imaginative, at times naive tales remain solid, classic superhero storytelling. Also keep in mind that Kirby beefed up the superhero as he augmented and rounded out the muscle volume of his heroes, changing from the lean, athletic type of DC heroes. The dynamism of his splash pages is a lesson in drawing and page composition. Heck, Kirby IS a storytelling school in itself.

To get to know Kirby better, one should get acquainted with The Jack Kiby Collector (TJKC), acclaimed fanzine published by Tomorrows. There are 53 issues now published and most have been collected.

As for Will Eisner; he hired Kirby in the late thirties at Eisner & Igor, after Jack had left the animation industry (he was an “inbetweener” on Popeye cartoons). So in my book, Eisner is as much a giant as Jack, Shulz and many others who deserve the label of “founding fathers” of this american art form, the comic book.

The Eternals and The Demon have both, as of yet, been unread by me, but I know plenty of folks that regard them very highly.

leaves me stunned by your shallowness. Go back to teaching high school!

Just because the first issues/collections aren’t the absolute strongest of the series doesn’t mean they’re worth skipping. Chances are you’ll appreciate the stronger work more once you get to to it. Going back and reading backwards doesn’t make sense because you’ll probably be let down since you started with the “best” part. F4 and Locas are epic series that should be read all the way, from beginning to end.

No one suggests skipping the first half hour of a movie just to get the best parts.