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kirby's best work on thor?

Started by Hawkman,

14 posts in this topic

Dick Pontoon

Dick Pontoon

Posted
Posted
I'd say Fantastic Four #51.

 

You'd say FF #51 was his best work on Thor? hm

 

The development of Thor is fairly analogous to the FF. I love the whole run, but the early books can get pretty goofy. Oftentimes the plot wasn’t that far removed from the type of kiddie fare DC was producing at the time. Around the late teens of JIM (or the #30s of FF) Kirby (along with Lee) started to hit their stride and produce books that stood out from the competition. By the first issues of Thor proper (#126) they really started to blast off. Kirby was working on less books and was able to put more detail into the pencils as well as more intricate and cosmic plots. The arc leading up to Jane Foster’s departure (#136) was great, as were all the issues that followed, until approximately #162. After that, things trail off a bit, possibly due to Kirby’s increasing dissatisfaction with his situation at Marvel; the move to smaller boards didn’t help. The remaining issues were still quite good but didn’t quite pack the same punch as the others, sort of like the last 1-2 dozen Kirby FFs.

 

I’m sidestepping the whole issue of inking. I’m hardly a fan of Vince Colletta (and methods like simplifying pencils, blacking out or erasing pencils) but his style did give the books a certain look. And some issues look beter than others, probably due to how much time he spent on them. Chic Stone on Kirby looked great, although he was gone early on; likewise Bill Everett did a great job on some of the later issues in the #170s.

 

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namisgr

namisgr

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Posted

With Journeys, I thought Kirby's art was terrific from ish 97 on. I especially like his take on everything Asgardian in issues 115-117, and the first Hulk/Thor battle royale in ish 112.

 

A great way to read these issues for next to nothing is to buy the Marvel Tales reprint run. MT25, for instance, reprints JIM112.

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Hawkman

Hawkman

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I'd say Fantastic Four #51.

 

You'd say FF #51 was his best work on Thor? hm

 

 

:boo:

I read the OPs original post as "Was Kirbys' best work done while working on Thor?".

 

lol

 

 

 

 

 

p.s. thanks everyone

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VintageComics

VintageComics

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Well said, DP. My personal favorite Thor story is the Mangog arc from 154 to 157.

 

Not sure I'm with you 100% on the Everett inking though...

That is an epic run. Also, his work from 126-133ish is also a very nice run as well.

 

With iss. #126 (when Thor took his own title) Kirby really seemed to hit a stride...it was like Thor became full grown...covers were larger than life, stories were mindblowing.

 

I also really love the Destroyer stuff as well (starts with Iss. #118). What a great concept.

 

 

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gaz973

gaz973

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The development of Thor is fairly analogous to the FF. I love the whole run, but the early books can get pretty goofy. Oftentimes the plot wasn’t that far removed from the type of kiddie fare DC was producing at the time. Around the late teens of JIM (or the #30s of FF) Kirby (along with Lee) started to hit their stride and produce books that stood out from the competition. By the first issues of Thor proper (#126) they really started to blast off. Kirby was working on less books and was able to put more detail into the pencils as well as more intricate and cosmic plots. The arc leading up to Jane Foster’s departure (#136) was great, as were all the issues that followed, until approximately #162. After that, things trail off a bit, possibly due to Kirby’s increasing dissatisfaction with his situation at Marvel; the move to smaller boards didn’t help. The remaining issues were still quite good but didn’t quite pack the same punch as the others, sort of like the last 1-2 dozen Kirby FFs.

 

Well put. (thumbs u

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