This will be my first year participating in the COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN over at http://www.countdowntohalloween.com and I'd like to thank the guys for having me along with about 200 others participating. Every day I will post something. It may not be a detailed review of a film or book or a finished piece of artwork, but it will be something that I connect with--which usually means movies, books and comics.
And speaking of comics, the most ambitious part of my personal countdown to all hallow's eve will be my focus on the KIRBY MONSTERS. Any comic book fan knows the name Jack Kirby and if you don't know that name, then you aren't a fan of comics. Way back before he co-created the Fantastic Four, Thor, the Hulk, Silver Surfer, Black Panther, Iron Man and well after he co-created Captain America he designed the most interesting monsters to ever appear in comics. They are strange, they are weird, they are horrific, they are hideous and even hilarious; but, certainly they are unique. I'll do a feature on a handful of the Kirby designed MONSTERS and will try my hand at portraying each of them in pencil, pen, ink, or even digitally. So be prepared to meet the likes of GROOT, GOOGAM, GOOM, TABOO, ELEKTRO, METALLO, GORKILL, DIABLO and MORE!!! There will be surprises and thrills-a-plenty!
I will also post about those characters we relate to and sympathize with--the Fraidy Cats; I will post halloween cards of old; Halloween related comic covers; the Crestwood House Monsters Series of books that influenced me as a child; and many more mysterious manifestations of the macabre! (Here I go trying to sound like Stan Lee)
So, buck up, sit up and get ready... the great and secret show starts now!!!
Thanks for the Countdown to Halloween link, Gary. Saved me the trouble of searching for it this morning.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for your Kirby monsters!
Did Marvel ever release a Kirby Monsters collection of any kind?
ReplyDeleteMark-I hope they live up to the shadow beneath the name "KIRBY"!
ReplyDeleteJeff--There have been a few horror themed Essentials, none focusing on the Kirby Monsters, but I believe they are collecting some of the '50s stuff into the Masterworks...I'll look into it.
Jeff, a long while back, Marvel released a trade paperback by the title Monster Masterworks--it is seemingly out of print, but can be found on Amazon via resellers. It won't be exclusively Kirby, I suspect you'll get some Ditko stuff too (he inked a lot of Kirby's monster stories anyway).
ReplyDeleteI believe there are a few hardcover reprints out there some of the monster stories too--most of these stories first appeared in Tales of Suspense, Journey into Mystery and Tales to Astonish. Hope this helps.
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction! Shame on Marvel though for not getting this back in print, though, and especially this month!
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