I believe that my enjoyment of Jack Kirby's 2-page spreads, both with & without Joe Simon. There's a distinct difference between those big spreads when he's working alone or with his old partner. That fact that both can be so gloriously good just makes me appreciate those differences even more. (And then i get all gooey Vulcan feelings inside for the IDIC, but let's move along) Those big double page spreads have a Kirby trademark at points in his career, but did you know that his very first job for Timely (Marvel) was a double page spread?
Yup. Way back in 1939 for the very short lived pulp magazine, ironically named Marvel Tales. Even before he was doing comics for them, he was already doing the doubles:
Okay, none of that is quite true. This is actually from Marvel Stories, which came out in 1940. But i bumped into this in The Jack Kirby Treasury, and they had mistaken Marvel Stories for Marvel Tales, published by Western Fiction Publishing Co., which alters the timeline just a few months. But in those few months Simon & Kirby worked on their first three issues for Timely - Red Raven #1, Daring Mystery #6, and Marvel Mystery Stories #13. In those first three issues, they brought a god down to Earth to be the hero (Mercury), introduced Marvel Boy, and introduced The Vision. So they were already off to a rocking start, foreshadowing the Marvel Age that followed a couple decades later.
Nonetheless, i do think that this is the first double pager done for Marvel-to-be. I haven't dug out that issue of Red Raven yet to be sure, but it seems likely this was the first.
Now that we've worked that out, let's enjoy 10 double-splash spreads from The King. Not a Top 10, just a Ten 10. I've still got massive piles of Kirby comics to read through and pull to the gallery piles. Can't evaluate from a partial selection, now can we? (Well, according the people at the Miss Universe pageant, my opinion is wrong, wrong, oh, so wrong.)
Please do take time to read the caption on this one:
I really loved what Jack (and Joe) did with all that space in which to play.
2-page glory by Jack Kirby & friends from 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Demon, Devil Dinosaur, Stuntman, Jimmy Olsen, New Gods, Headline Comics, and Forever People. Oh, and Marvel Stories. If you want to know the issue #, ask
