DINGBATS, DIVORCES, And SOUL LOVE...

Copyright TWO MORROWS PUBLISHING and DC COMICS

Another book that arrived at Castel Crivens yesterday is the above one - Jack Kirby's Dingbat Love, by TwoMorrows Publishing in cooperation with DC Comics.  I meant to order it when it was first announced as being in production a couple or so years back, but you know how life has a habit of getting in the way of one's plans.  Then recently I was reminded of it when I saw it on another blog, so wasted no time in buying myself a copy.

Rather than me witter on about it in my typical longwinded way, below is the official spiel on the back cover - though I suspect diehard Kirby fans will already know its contents having already bought theirs.  A nice touch inside is what Soul Love #1 could've looked like had it been published - well, it has now.  It was also available as a separate magazine in limited numbers, but I only learned that on that other blog and my chances of obtaining one are probably zilch.

Kirby's dialogue is clunkier than a thrupenny bit (or pound coin nowadays), but his art (for the most part) is top-notch - though there's one panel with a guy resting books on his bonce, which looks like the top of his head has been sawn off.  The Dingbats Of Danger Street is another proposition entirely; not what you'd call bad, art-wise, but not Kirby at the top of his game.

What with my original issues, Kirby Omnibus volumes, and now this, I think it's safe for me to say that I now have everything that Jack Kirby did for DC during his '70s run.  Well done me! 

Below is an Alex Ross illustration based on JK's layout for the proposed cover of Soul Love #1.  I don't know why (and nothing to do with Ross's art), but to me, it doesn't quite have a 1971 'look' to it for some reason.

Look at the panel below.  It really astounds me that Jack couldn't see what was wrong with it in regard to the 'head meets books' department.  It leaps off the page at me, so why not him?

SUPERMAN - KRYPTONITE NEVERMORE 50th ANNIVERSARY EDITION...

Copyright DC COMICS

Back in 2009, DC Comics Classics Library published a collected edition of the 9 issues featuring Superman's 'Kryptonite Nevermore' saga from start to finish.  I was disappointed to see the contents had been scanned from published comics, resulting in the reproduction not being quite as sharp or as colourful as it might (should, in fact) have been.  (There must also have been blank spots on the lettering which required retouching, but whoever did it misspelt a couple of words.)  "If only they'd recoloured new proofs, it would've been perfect" I thought.

Well, now they have!  In 2021, to commemorate this series' 50th Anniversary, DC essentially reissued their 2009 book, though with newly restored colour on every page (and no spelling errors) - making it the volume it deserved to be to begin with.  My only reservation is that due to the tight binding, there's not enough of a margin between the page edges on either side of the spine, making two separate pages appear, at a glance, almost like a centrespread - all through the book.  Thankfully, the pages don't disappear into the binding and are still easily readable.

The text pieces are the same as the 2009 edition, but even if you have that one, maybe it's time to upgrade to this visually superior presentation with high quality reproduction and perfect colour-registration - just as it ought to be.  (I only learned of this hardback last week - my copy arrived yesterday.)  Don't be a fool - rush out and buy it now (or order one from eBay or Amazon), as this is a book that should be on every Superman fan's bookshelf.  If you haven't read these tales before, boy, are you in for a treat!  (And even if you have, you're still in for a treat.)

And below is what the 2009 version looks like.  Nice, but the reproduction of the contents in the 2021 presentation is far superior.