Just received my copies of the new, 2005 version of Kirby Unleashed from the excellent folks at TwoMorrows Publishing. This is a reprint/update of a book/folio of Jack Kirby's work that was originally published in 1971. My then-partner Steve Sherman and I assembled it, and for the new edition, Steve has written a new intro and John Morrow and I have updated and corrected a lot of the text. (As usually happens when I look back at something I worked on long ago, there was a powerful drive to completely rewrite…but John restrained me, so I settled for just fixing some of the dumber writing and all — I hope — the mistakes.) John has also tweaked the design and added in loads of additional artwork, much of it in color…and it's really quite a handsome volume.
For the Kirby connoisseur, this is a must-have item, even if you own the original. For those new to Kirby, it's a pretty good introduction to the man and his work…nothing too deep but at twenty four bucks (postpaid), it's a heckuva bargain. Here's where you get a copy.
By the by: As any of my long-time friends will tell you, I used to have an uncanny ability to simulate the handwriting of others. In the last decade or so, as I have segued from occasionally drawing or lettering something to doing it all on this here computer, my control of a pen or pencil has sadly atrophied…but that's a matter we should discuss another time. What I did want to mention is that when I worked for Jack, he was oddly delighted by my ability to sign his name…and if I studied a real sample and put my mind to it, I could do it such that neither he nor his wife Roz could tell the difference. He'd even hand me my paychecks unsigned and say, "Here…you can sign this better than I can." Once in a while, he'd finish a drawing and hand it to me to sign, sometimes telling me to do the "neater" version of his autograph, which was not so much a forgery as an improvement. The "Jack Kirby" signature that sometimes adorns the covers of The Jack Kirby Collector as part of the title logo is, I think, one of mine.
A number of the signatures in Kirby Unleashed were by me, and I also inked part of one drawing. In some cases, I did the "slicker" Kirby signature and in some cases, I did the one that looked exactly like Jack could have signed in two seconds. In the next issue of The Jack Kirby Collector, I'll attempt to identify which ones are Jack and which ones are me. But first, I have to study a couple and decide for myself.