Double Kirby (King Kirby 055)

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

Return of Mobster Monday (King Kirby 054)

The old crime comics from the 1940s on which Jack Kirby worked, usually with Joe Simon, had a cover style that was heavy in exposition and often seemed like they were trying to tell the whole story on the cover. Here's a gallery of 13 Simon & Kirby covers from the period, mostly from Justice Traps The Guilty because we already looked at a bunch from Headline Comics. You can get a pretty good idea of what i mean from these:

Hey! You made it past all those bad, nasty people- congratulations.
Here - have a nice little 6 page Simon & Kirby story from the first issue of Justice Traps The Guilty to reward yourself:

all art by Jack Kirby & Joe Simon for Justice Traps The Guilty and Real Clue Crime Comics (1947-1951)

Green - Not Just For Anger Anymore (King Kirby 053)

It's Monday once again, and usually we have our Blue Monday feature. But both Jack Kirby and the King Kirby 100 are generally Safe For Work. Next week, Blue Monday will return, but not as a part of the KK100. This week, we have another special edition of

One place Kirby played around with slightly more adult content was in a couple of his collages. Unfortunately, these are old and glue rippled, no longer in the best of shape. It almost makes me want to start an insane project of trying to identify all of the source images in order to recreate the collages anew.
Yeah... Insane.
Let's just take a look and push those thoughts away.

Goddesses by Jack Kirby (1960s)

Son of Mobster Monday (King Kirby 052)

I mentioned Headline Comics as one of the old Simon & Kirby crime comics i enjoyed. Headline worked to create a specific feeling to the book that worked well for me. They featured behind the scenes exposes and cautionary tales...

...true Crime Never Pays stories from the 'headlines'...

...and TRUE Confidential Reports by "Red Hot" Blaze!

 Blaze even got a terrific clasic Simon & Kirby 2-page splash:

 And his stories are all True! How do we know? Because they're told directly to Simon & Kirby:

But... How do we know that's true, and not just a gimmick? Well, for that we have to jump over to Treasure Comics. Both Headline and Treasure were published by American Boys' Comics under the Prize Comics banner, along with Wonderland Comics, Frankenstein Comics, and the eponymous Prize Comics. If you go digging, Simon & Kirby can be found in all but Wonderland Comics.

Meanwhile, back at how do we know the stories are really told to the team by "Red Hot" Blaze... Let's go to Treasure Comics #10 (right) - Just LOOK!

There he is, telling the story to Jack Kirby:

So, now you know. All completely True.
Treasure Comics indeed.

all pages by Jack Kirby & Joe Simon for Headline Comics #s 23-29 (1947-1948) and Treasure Comics #10 (1946)