Friday, 28 August 2015

FF Fridays: Happy Birthday to the King

Readers of this 'ere blog with long memories may remember a series of posts called "FF Fridays" way back in the mists of time. ( Actually about three years ago. ) Like many other intended regular features here they sort of fell by the wayside but a couple of things have prompted me to dust 'em off and bring 'em back. Firstly, it would have been the 98th birthday today of Jacob Kurtzberg aka Jolly Jack Kirby aka the King Of Comics and I thought a tribute to this sadly-missed genius would be in order. And secondly, I just happened to buy a trio of terrific tomes featuring the King's Kosmic Koncepts a couple of days ago. These were from the wonderful Dave's Comics down in ( not-so ) sunny Brighton. ( And, yes, I may have to inflict some photos from said two-day jaunt to the south coast on you, Dear Reader, at some point. ) I'm always looking to fill gaps in my FF collection and I was very happy to find these three issues all for very reasonable prices. So please cast your eyes on these fine examples of Kirby's cover artwork at its peak, circa 1967, when the FF really was The World's Greatest Comic Magazine...
And not forgetting Kirby's writing partner on the FF, here's some of Smilin' Stan Lee's deathless dialogue for Bashful Benjamin Grimm aka The Thing from FF #63:
"Shucks, you ain't seen nothin' yet! In fact, I got a real treat in store for ya now...! Just in case ya lost yer wrist-watch or somethin', I'm gonna show ya what time it is... It's clobberin' Time!"

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5 comments:

  1. John Pitt29 August 2015 at 14:19

    I bought #64 on release.The Kirby FFs were my favourites. I always wanted toake a gallery of all the Kirby Kovers in chronological order, but never seem to have the time.
    One day.....

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  2. Simon B 29 August 2015 at 21:20

    That sounds a good idea, John. I think you should definitely do that... and then start a blog and share the results with the world. Go on, you know you want to...

    Incidentally, FF #64 is cover dated July 1967 which means it was published in April 1967. I was only 4 months old at the time, so it's taken nearly 49 years for me to catch up with this comic :-)

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    1. John Pitt1 September 2015 at 15:55

      Make that 48 years, Simon, as it took 6 months to a year to come over here on the ships.
      If I ever do get around to that Kirby gallery, it would all be taken off GCD, so I couldn't post it.
      In any case, I prefer to be a bloggee, rather than a bloggER!

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  3. Kid31 August 2015 at 12:36

    I've already started a gallery of FF covers - I've posted the first 30 (in three parts) over on my blog. I'll get around to doing the others before too long.

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  4. Simon B 31 August 2015 at 19:01

    There were so many fantastic ( of course! ) covers in the Lee / Kirby years... and quite a lot after, too :-)

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