Lee and Kirby


Book Description

Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Fantastic Four #1 with this new book about the two pop-culture visionaries who created the Fantastic Four, and a decade in comics that was more tumultuous and awe-inspiring than any before or since. Calling on his years of research, plus new interviews conducted just for this book (with Stan Lee, Flo Steinberg, Mark Evanier, Joe Sinnott, and others), regular Jack Kirby Collector magazine contributor Mark Alexander traces both Lee and Kirby's history at Marvel Comics, and the remarkable series of events and career choices that led them to converge in 1961 to conceive the Fantastic Four. It also documents the evolution of the FF throughout the 1960s, with previously unknown details about Lee and Kirby's working relationship, and their eventual parting of ways in 1970. With a wealth of of historical information and amazing Kirby artwork, Stan Lee & Jack Kirby: The Wonder Years beautifully examines the first decade of the FF, and the events that put into motion the 1960s era that came to be known as the Marvel Age of Comics!




S.H.I.E.L.D. by Lee & Kirby


Book Description

Celebrating S.H.I.E.L.D.'s 50th anniversary, Marvel proudly presents the very first S.H.I.E.L.D. adventures! Having revolutionized everything from super heroes to war and Westerns, in 1965 Stan Lee & Jack Kirby set their sights on the spy game. Cold War covert ops had been dominating headlines, so they created an international organization to protect the Marvel Universe. Headed by Nick Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D. featured amazing gadgets, world-dominating villains and the debut of the awesome Helicarrier! Collecting: Strange Tales (1951) #135-150, Fantastic Four (1961) #21, Tales of Suspense (1959) #78.




True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee


Book Description

The definitive, revelatory biography of Marvel Comics icon Stan Lee, a writer and entrepreneur who reshaped global pop culture—at a steep personal cost HUGO AWARD FINALIST • “A biography that reads like a thriller or a whodunit . . . scrupulously honest, deeply damning, and sometimes even heartbreaking.”—Neil Gaiman Stan Lee was one of the most famous and beloved entertainers to emerge from the twentieth century. He served as head editor of Marvel Comics for three decades and, in that time, became known as the creator of more pieces of internationally recognizable intellectual property than nearly anyone: Spider-Man, the Avengers, the X-Men, Black Panther, the Incredible Hulk . . . the list goes on. His carnival-barker marketing prowess helped save the comic-book industry and superhero fiction. His cameos in Marvel movies have charmed billions. When he died in 2018, grief poured in from around the world, further cementing his legacy. But what if Stan Lee wasn’t who he said he was? To craft the definitive biography of Lee, Abraham Riesman conducted more than 150 interviews and investigated thousands of pages of private documents, turning up never-before-published revelations about Lee’s life and work. True Believer tackles tough questions: Did Lee actually create the characters he gained fame for creating? Was he complicit in millions of dollars’ worth of fraud in his post-Marvel life? Which members of the cavalcade of grifters who surrounded him were most responsible for the misery of his final days? And, above all, what drove this man to achieve so much yet always boast of more?




Jack Kirby


Book Description

Told in vivid graphic novel form by a groundbreaking Eisner-nominated comics creator, the long-overdue biography of the legend who co-created Captain America, Iron Man, Black Panther, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and many more superhero favorites. “A fast-paced celebration of an underheralded legend within the comic-book industry.”—Kirkus Reviews NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY LIBRARY JOURNAL This sweeping, full-color comic book biography tells the complete life story of Jack Kirby, co-creator of some of the most enduring superheroes and villains of the twentieth century for Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and more. Critically acclaimed graphic novelist Tom Scioli breathes visual life into Kirby's life story--from his days growing up in New York during the Great Depression and discovering a love for science fiction and cartoons to his time on the frontlines in the European theatre of World War II where he experienced the type of action and adventure he'd later imbue his comic pages with, and on to his world-changing collaborations at Marvel with Stan Lee, where the pair redefined comics as a part of pop culture. Just as every great superhero needs a villain to overcome, Kirby's story also includes his struggles to receive the recognition and compensation that he believed his work deserved. Scioli captures his moves from Marvel to DC and back again, showing how Kirby himself and later his family fought to preserve his artistic legacy. Drawn from an unparalleled imagination and a life as exciting as his comic book tales, Kirby's super-creations have influenced subsequent generations of creatives in the comics field and beyond. Now, readers can experience the life and times of a comics titan through the medium that made him famous.




Tales to Astonish


Book Description

Tales to Astonish tells the spectacular life and times of Jack Kirby, the legendary forefather of American comic books. In the 1960's, Kirby joined with Stan Lee to develop many of our best-known and most beloved superheroes, including the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, Thor, Iron Man, the Avengers, and the Silver Surfer. Ronin Ro chronicles Kirby's poverty-stricken origins in New York's Lower East Side, his early commercial triumphs and failures, his renowned partnership with Lee, and his revolutionary artistic innovations, tracing the comic book industry from its inauspicious beginnings to its sensational successes. Ronin Ro lives in New York City and is the author of Gangsta: Merchandising the Rhymes of Violence, the award-winning international bestseller Have Gun Will Travel, and the novel Street Sweeper. He has written for Vanity Fair, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Herald, Playboy, Rolling Stone, and Spin. "Ro cleanly lays out Kirby's story...He does well by the facts."-The Onion "Ro deftly handles Kirby's relationships...Tales to Astonish celebrates the stubbornness that kept Kirby, a superhero of comic books in his own right, creative as if against his will."-San Francisco Chronicle Also available: HC 1-58234-345-4 $24.95




Kirby Is… Fantastic!


Book Description

Collects Fantastic Four (1961) #4, #12, #25-26, #52-53, #66-67, #84-87 & Annual #6. Kirby is the greatest storytelling mind in comic book history. Kirby is an architect of the world’s most-famous universe of characters. Kirby is Fantastic! The first in a line of collections celebrating the incomparable talent of Jack “The King” Kirby, Kirby is Fantastic! brings together a selection of all-time great issues from his tenure on Fantastic Four. Featuring the 1960s debut of the Sub-Mariner, knitting together Marvel’s Silver and Golden Ages; earth-shaking battles between the Thing and the Hulk; the debut of the Black Panther; the unveiling of the utopian man-god “Him” (a.k.a. Adam Warlock); a life-or-death epic battle with Doctor Doom in the heart of Latveria; and a deadly trip into the Negative Zone topped off by the history-making birth of Franklin Richards.




Marvel: August 1961 Omnibus Hc Javier Rodriguez Cover


Book Description

In August 1961, FANTASTIC FOUR #1 hit newsstands, heralding a new take on super hero stories and the birth of the Silver Age Marvel Universe! But Marvel Comics had been around for years before that, publishing Western, romance, comedy, monster and science fiction titles...and in August 1961, FANTASTIC FOUR was just one of over a dozen very different Marvel books! Now, sixty years later, experience the excitement of being a comic book fan in that momentous month -- with a complete collection of every issue that shared the shelves with FF #1, many never before reprinted! COLLECTING: Journey Into Mystery (1952) 73-74; Kathy (1959) 13; Life with Millie (1960) 13; Patsy Walker (1945) 97; Amazing Adventures (1961) 6; Fantastic Four (1961) 1; Kid Colt, Outlaw (1949) 101; Linda Carter, Student Nurse (1961) 2; Millie the Model (1945) 105; Strange Tales (1951) 90; Tales of Suspense (1959) 23; Tales to Astonish (1959) 25; Gunsmoke Western (1955) 67; Love Romances (1949) 96; Teen-Age Romance (1960) 84; Amazing Adult Fantasy (1961) 7; Patsy and Hedy (1952) 79; Rawhide Kid (1960) 25




S.H.I.E.L.D. by Jim Steranko


Book Description

Rarely before and rarely since has comics seen a talent as innovative as Jim Steranko. Blending together influences from Pop Art to Salvador Dali and Will Eisner to Wally Wood, Steranko's boundary-breaking style is an incomparable visual language that continues influence and inspire storytellers decades later. Now, for the first time ever, Marvel is proud to offer the complete Steranko Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. in one volume! COLLECTING: STRAN GE TALES (1951) 151-168 & NICK FURY, AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D. (1968) 1-3, 5




Essential Fantastic Four - Volume 5


Book Description

Lee and Kirby spin the classics with characters and concepts that remain among Marvel's mainstays today! After being lorded over in Latveria by Doctor Doom, the FF face a new level of grudge match when the Thing is tapped for the fighting arena of gangster Skrulls! Featuring the enigmatic inhumans, the Frightful Four, the Mad Thinker and other enduring opponents! Guest-starring Magneto and the Sub-Mariner! Plus: classic invasions from under the earth and under the sea! COLLECTING: FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 84-110, ANNUAL 7-8




Fantastic Four No. 1: Panel by Panel


Book Description

Timed for the 60th anniversary, the iconic and influential first issue of the Fantastic Four by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, deconstructed by award-winning designer Chip Kidd; with text by novelist Walter Mosley, Marvel editor Tom Brevoort, and historian Mark Evanier; and photographs by Geoff Spear The first issue of Fantastic Four by legendary creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced fans to a now-iconic team of Super Heroes--Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Girl, the Human Torch, and the Thing--ushering in the modern Marvel Age of comics. Kirby's artistic contributions in this comic book revolutionized visual storytelling and brought a new reality to the way comics stories could be told, the ripple effects of which continue to influence comic book art to this day. Sixty years after its publication in November 1961, this stunning reimagining by award-winning graphic designer Chip Kidd uses an original copy of the comic book (which initially sold for ten cents and now sells for astronomical prices in good condition) to present the classic story in a whole new way that is sure to engage both lifelong fans and the latest generation of Marvel enthusiasts. The book also includes text by bestselling novelist Walter Mosley, Marvel editor Tom Brevoort, and historian Mark Evanier (Kirby: King of Comics). Stunningly photographed by award-winning photographer Geoff Spear, Fantastic Four no. 1 is showcased as you've never seen it before--oversized and remastered--a panel-by-panel exploration of the entire issue that captures every single detail and nuance of Lee's story and Kirby's groundbreaking artwork, making it a must-have for every comic book collection.