World Famous Comics: Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and the American Comic Book Revolution
Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and the American Comic Book Revolution
By: Ronin Ro Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Format: Bargain Price Label: Bloomsbury USA Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 304 Publication Date: July 05, 2005 Release Date: June 16, 2005
Tales to Astonish relates the spectacular life and times of Jack Kirby, the legendary forefather of American comic books. In the 1960's, Kirby joined with Stan Lee to develop many of our best-known and most beloved superheroes, including the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, Thor, Iron Man, the Avengers, and the Silver Surfer. Ronin Ro chronicles Kirby's poverty-stricken origins in New York's Lower East Side, his early commercial triumphs and failures, his renowned partnership with Lee, and his revolutionary artistic innovations, tracing the comic book industry from its inauspicious beginnings to its sensational successes.
Needs photos and an editor It's a breezy book that suffers from some glaring editing problems. Ronin describes Kirby's Army service with some nice stories, but the author also mentions that Kirby returned to the USA in 1943 - even though Kirby landed at Normandy 10 days after D-Day, which places the King in Europe in June 1944. Ronin's description of the National/Fawcett lawsuit implies that settlement was reached in the mid-40s, but Fawcett actually settled in 1953.
Ronin does a good job of describing Kirby's work habits, when well as Kirby's later years as the King's memory started to go.
But the book really, really needs photos and illustrations. They're essential parts of Kirby's story, and there's nothing inside the book. There are two drawings on the cover. The author spends a good chunk of the book discussing Jack and Roz Kirby's marriage - but there isn't a single photograph of them in the book. It's a shame.
Astonishing that it was published! I thought we would have to wait until Stan Lee passed away before someone was brave enough to set the record straight. While I admit to being a bit biased (I fell in love with Kirby's work at the age of 12 with Kamandi #11), I thoroughly enjoyed reading this account of Jack Kirby's life and his unequalled influence on the comic book medium.
If you're a Kirby fan (like me), you will probably enjoy this book, which filled in several gaps in my knowledge of his life and struggles. If you're a Stan fan and believe his hype, well...read his autobiography and try to reconcile the fact that Stan earns a 7-figure paycheck for being a figurehead who gained fame from others' work. I guess it's easier for a publishing company to pay one person who's willing to claim ownership than to be fair and distribute residuals to those who created most of the characters and did most of the work.
To address other reviewers, yes, the book has little to no documentation, but the author says it was written from interviews he conducted, and only reached out to other documents when he discussed people who were unavailable or deceased. He says something about a list, which isn't included. This indicates an intent to document his sources, and a possible publication flaw that didn't include the list.
And I agree that for those who have little or no frame of reference for Kirby's work, it is a shame that there are no pictures. However, for those of us who cut our teeth on Kirby, it's not really an issue. Clearly, this book was written for the fans, with obscure references and names dropped like cherries out of a tree.
Bottom line: If you're a Kirby fan, you'll probably have a hard time putting it down. If you're a Stan fan, you'll probably find it biased and hate it. If you know nothing about these guys and have no opinion, you probably won't be interested. I gave it five stars for its bold counteraction of the Man's (what an appropriate title) hyperbole and hype, and for the pure pleasure it gave me to see the record set straight.
While it's nice that Stan is now verbally giving Jack his due credit, it's books like these that should shame Marvel Enterprises into giving those who built the foundation for their millions a little piece of the cake.
MARVELous I've always had a passing interest in comic books. Not so much as an avid reader of comics themselves but more of an interest in the early creators and its history. This book was my first and it really opened my eyes to the extent of Jack Kirby's influence on both the comic book genre and pop culture as a whole. It really was astonishing. The ending which includes the death of many of the heroes of this genre including the King was sad especially since it seemed Kirby left without the tangible side of leaving a legacy - royalties and above the title credit. However it seems most people within the industry and the avid followers of comics have come to fully understand his lasting contributions which may be as significant as anyone before or after.
Tales to Astonish - Astoundin! A great insight into the life of Jack Kirby and sheds light on the creation of those fabulous Marvel Superheoes!
Incredible Book I've been collecting comics for over twenty years, but this book blew me away. I'd read another review that said that everything in the book was common knowledge, and I can't see how anybody could say that. It was really in-depth and insightful, and surprisingly enough it was very well written. I don't usually read biographies, but this book was pretty much a bio on Jack Kirby. The only thing about it, is that after reading it, you may view the comics industry differently. It's a shame the way that the artists (and some writers) were treated by the comic companies. This book was incredibly detailed, and was full of many quotes from industry professionals throughout the years. Highly recommended, especially if you liked Kavalier & Clay.
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