Captain America: Rewriting History ... Kirby Style

The main story in CAPTAIN AMERICA #700, by storytellers Mark Waid and Chris Samnee, colorist Matthew Wilson, and letterer Joe Caramagna, serves as a powerful culmination of this creative team’s run alongside the Sentinel of Liberty. But these all-star artists aren’t the only ones getting in on the landmark issue action! The Cap’s co-creator, Jack “King” Kirby himself, contributes to the action as well in a special bonus story written by Waid with colors by Wilson!

In the back of issue #700, Mark Waid took on the mammoth task of repurposing original Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia art from TALES OF SUSPENSE with a brand-new Steve Rogers story. To get the all the details, we caught up with the writer to ask how he went about creating this cross-generational collaboration.

Marvel.com: How did you come up with the idea for this one-of-a-kind story?

Mark Waid: I’ve been wanting to do something like this for a long, long time. In the earliest days of the MARVEL ESSENTIALS black-and-white volumes, I came to realize just how many Silver Age and Bronze Age comics artists produced consistent and reliable work in an old-fashioned six-panel grid. To be honest, there weren’t that many who did huge, long, hundreds-of-pages uninterrupted runs in the 1960s and 1970s—John Buscema, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Gene Colan, a few others. But I’d always wondered what it would be like to redialogue their material to create new stories—especially if I could pick-and-choose specific panels to build brand-new pages.

Marvel.com: Can you tell us what your process was like?

Mark Waid: Way more complicated than you’d think.

STEP ONE: I had to pick a character, but that was a gimme seeing as how this was going to be for CAPTAIN AMERICA #700.

STEP TWO: Before I even began choosing the artwork, I had to settle on one and only one penciller/inker team for visual consistency. This immediately winnowed down the number of available Captain America pages pretty substantially—inkers like Syd Shores and Dick Ayers were fine craftsmen, but their work was either too sparse (comparatively) or too centered on very specific scenes (say, World War II battle scenes) that would be difficult to weave into a modern narrative. In the end, based on the volume of collaboration as much as anything, I opted to pull from the Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia stories from TALES OF SUSPENSE.

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Celebrate Jack Kirby’s 100th Birthday With More Than 1,300 Pages of Original Comic Art

From IDW Comics

Join IDW Publishing for a unique celebration at SDCC!

San Diego, CA (June 29, 2017) — Next month at San Diego Comic-Con, IDW will honor both the breadth of Jack Kirby’s imagination, and his unrivaled artistic skill, in a special 100th birthday celebration panel and art show, featuring an incredible 1,300 images of original Kirby art.

Kirby, the visionary artist and creator or co-creator of such characters as the X-Men, Captain America, Silver Surfer, The New Gods, The Avengers, Kamandi, and hundreds more, remains one of the most influential comic artists of all time. Not only do his wildly imagined creations continue to inspire new media properties across the world, but his incredibly drawn pages still stand as a pinnacle of sequential art.

This birthday tribute, hosted by IDW President Greg Goldstein, will feature a multi-media display of more than 1,300 pages of Kirby’s original artwork—the largest showing ever—selected from the eight Jack Kirby Artist’s Edition books IDW has published, as well as additional not-yet-published pages that will be new to fans of the books. “There’s never been a larger or more impressive collection of Kirby visuals in public,” said Goldstein.

Comic legends Walter Simonson (Thor, Alien, Ragnarok) and Kevin Eastman (co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) will be on hand to discuss Kirby’s continued influence. Also present will be IDW PDX Creative Director Dirk Wood and IDW Director of Special Projects Scott Dunbier, the editor of IDW’s award-winning Artist’s Editions series.

“Jack Kirby was the most important comic artist of all time, and we could not be more pleased to help celebrate his enduring legacy,” said Dunbier.

In addition to his importance, Kirby was also incredibly prolific, penciling 15 pages or more each week during marathon days at his drawing board, lasting upward of 12 hours. Yet, despite the breathtaking rate at which he worked, nearly all the pages he left behind are a master class in design, layout, and imagination, made even more impressive by the fact that Kirby was almost completely self-taught.

Panel attendees will see hundreds of eye-catching pieces from Kirby’s tenure at both DC and Marvel, including selections from Fantastic Four, Mister Miracle, Thor, The Forever People, and more, printed so clearly that the whiteout, eraser marks, and blue-line notes are all visible, giving a behind-the-scenes look at some of Kirby’s biggest hits.

“One of the things that IDW is most committed to as a company is the preservation and proper display of classic comics, and we could not be more excited and proud to show off these original pages in celebration of all that Kirby accomplished,” Goldstein said. “We’re grateful to our partners at Marvel and DC, and of course to the Kirby family, for the opportunity to publish these beautiful and important books.”

The panel will on Saturday, July 22nd, from 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM in Room 25ABC. Seating is limited, and in addition to a special gift for everyone who attends, two lucky fans will be leaving with their own Kirby Artist’s Edition.

To purchase any of the IDW Jack Kirby Artist’s Edition books, which feature high-quality reproductions of Kirby’s art printed the same size it was originally drawn at, on paper similar to the actual art boards, visit your local comic shop or get them direct from IDW at:

http://www.idwpublishing.com/product-category/art-books/jack-kirby-art-books/.

You can learn more about Jack Kirby and his amazing legacy by visiting the Kirby Museum at kirbymuseum.org.

Fantastic Four #44, November 1965 Issue - Marvel Comics

Fantastic Four (1961 1st Series) #44, November 1965 Issue - Marvel Comics - Grade Fine

From View Obscura Comics

$24.99 USD - Order Here

Script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Joe Sinnott.

Newlyweds Reed and Sue Richards work on domesticating the Baxter Building. Fed up with the couple treating he and Thing like children, Johnny storms out to ride his car. A large earthquake-like jolt surprises Johnny, and he soon finds himself being held hostage by Medusa, who claims she is trying to get away from Gorgon. Gorgon uses his feet to cause large shock waves as he steals the Fantastic Four's whirlybird.

Johnny takes Medusa to the location where the FF previously fought Dragon Man. When Medusa uses her vacuum gun on Johnny to make him flame off, it awakens the Dragon Man. The Dragon Man believes that Medusa is the Invisible Girl, so when Gorgon arrives to take Medusa, the Dragon Man defends her.

As Medusa tries to escape the scene, the Dragon Man captures Medusa and flies her back into the city. Dragon Man gets in a clash with both the Fantastic Four and Gorgon. Gorgon claims that he and Medusa are of the same race, and that she is forbidden to mingle with others. During the fight, Sue is taken away by Dragon Man while Gorgon causes an entire building to collapse under the FF's feet. - Marvel Comics

Kamandi: The Last Boy On Earth Like You’ve Never Seen Him!

From IDW Publishing

The Jack Kirby Artist’s Edition Library Adds Essential Series

Of all Jack Kirby’s celebrated DC Comics creations, perhaps none has struck such an enduring chord with readers as his post-apocalyptic adventure Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth. Now, to the delight of fans far and wide, this much-anticipated series joins the esteemed ranks of Jack “King” Kirby’s Artist’s Editions!

Long after the age of super heroes, Kamandi triumphed as humanity’s last beacon in a world ruled by beasts. Traveling the remnants of civilization after a great disaster, the Last Boy on Earth found both friends and foes among the irradiated animal kingdom that now inhabited the world. Written and drawn by Kirby, the series was unique to comics and completely unlike anything else readers had seen.

To me personally, Jack Kirby is the greatest creator in the history of comic-book storytelling, period. At the age of ten, Kamandi was my all-time favorite character, and now, at the age of fifty-two, he still is. This series was the reason I decided to dedicate my life to comics, hoping and dreaming if I worked hard, I could try to follow in Kirby’s giant footsteps. -Kevin Eastman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator

This enthralling Artist’s Edition features some of the most influential complete issues from the revered series, including issues 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 9, along with additional covers and other bonus material. At 160 pages and measuring 12” by 17,” this Artist’s Edition will amaze and delight fans this May!

Hail to the King with the King-Size Kirby Collection

From Marvel Comics

He’s the King of Comics. A man who left an indelible mark upon the medium, using his peerless imagination to create some of the greatest stories and characters ever told. In 2015, celebrate Jack “King” Kirby’s incredible contribution to comic book history with the monumental, decades-spanning KING-SIZE KIRBY HARDCOVER collection!

Presented in Marvel’s Adamantium-sized format, this titanic tome clocks in at more than 800 pages of Kirby’s finest stories and stands more than a foot tall! For the first time ever, fans will be able to experience these truly genre-defining stories in a format that complements Jack Kirby’s unsurpassed art and storytelling abilities.

“If there were a Mount Rushmore of American comic book artists, Jack Kirby would be front and center,” says Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso.

Whether it was westerns, romance, war, horror, sci-fi, humor or super heroes, Jack Kirby could do it all! From Captain America punching Adolf Hitler to the super heroic creation of the Fantastic Four, X-Men and Avengers on to the far-out space opera of the Eternals, savor Jack Kirby’s most iconic comics in this one, unforgettable collection.

“Fans should reinforce their bookshelves and coffee tables,” says Marvel SVP Sales & Marketing David Gabriel. “This one is going to be huge – literally! We’re aiming to bring fans the ultimate collection, the ultimate collectable and the definitive Jack Kirby experience. The King of Comics deserves no less.”

This summer, experience the work of Jack Kirby brought to life like never before. A collection for the ages, experience the groundbreaking storytelling of one of the medium’s greatest pioneers when the KING-SIZE KIRBY HARDCOVER hits stores in July! Hail to the King.

KING-SIZE KIRBY collects material from RED RAVEN #1; MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS #13; CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS (1941) #1, 7; TALES TO ASTONISH #5; RAWHIDE KID #17; AMAZING ADVENTURES (1961) #1, STRANGE TALES #89, #94 and #114; TEEN-AGE ROMANCE #84; FANTASTIC FOUR #1, #48-51, #57-60 and ANNUAL #5; INCREDIBLE HULK #3; TWO-GUN KID #60; LOVE ROMANCES #103; AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #8; SGT. FURY #6 and #13; AVENGERS #4; TALES OF SUSPENSE #59; X-MEN #9; THOR #134-136 and #155-157; NOT BRAND ECHH #1; AMAZING ADVENTURES (1970) #1-2; CAPTAIN AMERICA’S BICENTENNIAL BATTLES; CAPTAIN AMERICA (1968) #200; ETERNALS #7; DEVIL DINOSAUR #1; and WHAT IF? #11

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