I'm still on the fence about Kirby's writing. I honestly believe he was writing for a younger audience and because I was of that younger audience (an early Gen Xer) I LOVED Captain Victory. I never heard of The Fourth World. All I knew about Kirby was what he did at Marvel, especially Captain America - which was and remains my favorite comic book superhero of all time. If Kirby had another company grade officer joining the ranks ("Captain") then I was on board. And as much as I enjoyed Grell's STARSLAYER and anything by Ditko, Dave Stevens' THE ROCKETEER was what I wanted to read. Bettie Page (who I never heard of) was the icing on the cake. The cake was the beautiful period artwork, the genre itself (more exciting to me than RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK), and the aircraft drawn with an obvious love and affection. Especially the Gee Bee racer. Until today I never even heard of Skateman!
As far as Kirby's actual artwork? At the time I read it all I saw was how dynamic and amazing it was. I concede what Dark Herald is saying now though through seasoned adult eyes. Of course the explanation is that Kirby was simply getting old and a few years later had a stroke. I believe his eyesight was diminishing at that time as well. None of that was apparent to me at the time though. And no one - no one at all - drew like Kirby. There's a reason he's The King.
Some great stuff at Pacific, even with things like Skateman popping in to visit.
When Marvel and DC lost their luster, Pacific was there with some entertaining items.
Good times!
And now Diamond is flaming out...
I'm still on the fence about Kirby's writing. I honestly believe he was writing for a younger audience and because I was of that younger audience (an early Gen Xer) I LOVED Captain Victory. I never heard of The Fourth World. All I knew about Kirby was what he did at Marvel, especially Captain America - which was and remains my favorite comic book superhero of all time. If Kirby had another company grade officer joining the ranks ("Captain") then I was on board. And as much as I enjoyed Grell's STARSLAYER and anything by Ditko, Dave Stevens' THE ROCKETEER was what I wanted to read. Bettie Page (who I never heard of) was the icing on the cake. The cake was the beautiful period artwork, the genre itself (more exciting to me than RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK), and the aircraft drawn with an obvious love and affection. Especially the Gee Bee racer. Until today I never even heard of Skateman!
As far as Kirby's actual artwork? At the time I read it all I saw was how dynamic and amazing it was. I concede what Dark Herald is saying now though through seasoned adult eyes. Of course the explanation is that Kirby was simply getting old and a few years later had a stroke. I believe his eyesight was diminishing at that time as well. None of that was apparent to me at the time though. And no one - no one at all - drew like Kirby. There's a reason he's The King.