Some readers may remember me mentioning a while back that I wanted to take a month during the summer and focus my reviews on a specific creator or creative team. Well, that month is upon us, and I’m excited to announce that this July is “Stan & Jack Month” at With Great Power! This month I’ll be reviewing a number of books that spotlight the talents of Stan “The Man” Lee and Jack “King” Kirby, who together made up one of the greatest and most innovative duos in the history of comics. You can expect old favorites and lesser known titles alike to show up throughout the month, as I take a look at classic superhero epics, unique genre tales, and even some of the biographical material that has been published on both creators.
But why a whole month on Lee and Kirby, you ask? Well, first and foremost, they’re two of my favorite comic book creators of all time! To this day, the words of no other comics writer have touched me as deeply as Stan’s, and the raw energy of Kirby’s pencils has in many ways never been surpassed. Both were foundational to the medium in a way that few other individuals have been, and their work (both separately and together) is continues to be highly influential while entertaining in its own right. On top of that, both Lee and Kirby tried their hands at telling so many different types of stories over the years that you can find something for just about everyone in their work.
The fun begins tomorrow, as we kick off the first week of the month with a biography of Stan Lee – written by none other than “The Man” himself! And after a look at Kirby’s recent definitive biography (written by his longtime assistant, Mark Evanier), we’ll get right into the heart of their work with a look at some of their finest contributions to Marvel Comics. As for what’s in store after that, you’ll just have to see – and I hope you’ll come along with me for the ride!
YES! I can't wait to see these reviews. The Kirby bio is of particular interest to me, as I've often been tempted to purchase it! I've got to assume we'll see some FF during the span of the month. Are we also gonna get some 4th world/New Gods reviews?
ReplyDeleteI'm going to focus mostly on things that Lee and Kirby did together this month, so I won't be doing New Gods, but I'd very much like to do another whole month at some point focusing on Simon & Kirby or even just Kirby by himself (both his DC work and his post-DC return to Marvel in the '70s). Heck, there's so much to talk about with Kirby I could probably do a whole year on him!
ReplyDeleteAnd a sneak peek on the Kirby biography: it's not perfect, but it's still pretty good. The dimensions are huge, so there's tons of beautiful Kirby art reproduced at an incredible size!