KIRBY FIVE-OH!

KIRBY FIVE-OH! Celebrating 50 Years of the "King" of Comics. TwoMorrows Publishing; 2008.

Essentially a special issue of The Kirby Collector, devoted to the works of comics giant Jack "King" Kirby, this is a huge trade paperback chock full of info and drawings, including rare sketches and comic book covers done by Kirby. Kirby's cinematic style on Captain America and other titles from the golden age and onward is always dynamic and vivid. Kirby worked on and co-created such characters as The Fantastic Four, Avengers, and X-Men for Marvel Comics, and at DC Comics he created the New Gods, Forever People, and Mr. Miracle as part of his "Fourth World" saga. Some of the written tributes to Kirby by other comics professionals become a bit pretentious and self-serving, but there's a lot of great material in this book -- and lots of great stuff to look at. Chapters include 50 People Influenced by Kirby; 50 best Kirby Covers; and so on, all with the "50" theme. Kirby occasionally drew Superman when he worked on Jimmy Olsen and when the Man of Steel guest-starred in his Fourth World titles.

Verdict: Illustrates why Kirby is one of the greats! ***.