Kirby Vision is a free exhibition of the artwork of the King of Comics and other talented artists at the Corey Helford Gallery! The gallery is located at the Arts District, 571 S Anderson St., in Los Angeles. More info is at: https://coreyhelfordgallery.com. the show began on June 29th and closes August 3rd, this upcoming Saturday! Jack Kirby is the artist of the early Marvel Comics titles that are foundational to the Marvel Universe. This includes Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, and many more heroes and villains! There is a small section by Golden Apple with trade paperbacks and The Demon prints signed by inker, Mike Royer! The exhibition is presented by the Jack Kirby Museum & Research Center.
Take a pair of 3D glasses since you enter the gallery and see a wall sized pages of Kirby’s 3D comics! Plus, there is an oversized Captain 3D comic on a table. To the right is an old time newstand with the “Hey Kids! Comics” sign and comics plus a tricycle that carries comic books in back! There is a display of a Kirby Vision 3D poster for sale! On the wall is an introduction to Jack Kirby as a storyteller and his style, part of which is the “Kirby Krackle”, the distinctive bubbles of energy using negative space. Also, Kirby’s co-creation with writer/artist, Joe Simon, the romance comic. They worked together to create Captain America and many comics. Kirby was also pushing the industry with many genres, crime, war, sci fi, and monsters. One of the comics was Captain 3D which has pages and comics mounted on the wall. It has the different acetate layers used to make the 3D effect.
Around the gallery are the works of 70 artists inspired by Kirby, including comic artists, Cat Staggs with “Big Barda” in closeup with the Kirby Krackle, and works like a white sculpture of “Silver Surfer” by Carlos Soca hanging ten off some Kirby Krackle waves! There is the full size “Whosoever Holds This Hammer, If He Be Worthy, Shall Possess The Power Of Thor”, by Martin Meunier, an anvil base with magnets clings Mjolnir that you can hold! Also noteworthy is the acrylic painting, “Big Barda”, by Olivia which is an impressive recreation of a panel from Action Comics #593 (1987). Info about the artists and works is on the Corey Helford Gallery website. To the right is Gallery 3 with continuation of the Kirby Vision exhibit. If you are wary, there is a sign in book with incredible sketches by artistic guests!
Along the wall is the Marvel Superheroes section which has large recreations of covers like Captain America Comics #1, original pages, comics, and also photos of MCU films. Following it is Fantastic Four #1 (1961) that exploded out of the Silver Age and distinguished Marvel Comics. Also featured is Journey Into Mystery #83 (1962) that introduced Thor. Then, The Incredible Hulk #1 (1962) which initially was not successful, and also The X-Men #1 (1963). It was over time with other creators that the characters have been iconic. Finally, there is Avengers #4 (1963) that brought Cap to fight in the modern day! Dynamic Storytelling shows Kirby’s work in titles like New Gods which is my favorite, putting comics on a mythological level which he explored with Thor. An original page is mounted from The Forever People #8 (1972).
The best part of seeing original art up close is seeing the pencil notes by Kirby, details of ink on the artwork, and the compositions of panels. I was impressed to see Kirby’s original art for Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #139 (1971). DC then replaced his faces with Murphy Anderson’s art, Anderson is one of the definitive Superman artists, but it feels like defacing an artwork! There is Kirby’s crime and also his war comics informed by his time as a soldier. Romancing the Comic Book has Simon and Kirby debuting the Young Romance comic book. The Bad and the Ugly section features venturing into horror with The Demon! Also the Marvel monster titles that eventually led to Groot. He was introduced in Tales to Astonish #13 (1960) and was the standard one shot monster, but just appeared to threaten the world and the Hulk again. Then, he became popular along with the new Guardians of the Galaxy in the Annihilation: Conquest (2008) limited series.
One of my favorite works is still “Darkseid of Apokolips” which I had seen at the Comic Book Apocalypse: The Graphic World of Jack Kirby at Cal State Northridge in 2015. Pencils lines form the ultimate comic book villain, stoic, but ready for brutality! There was a colorful collage that was used in Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers Special #1 (1983). He was innovative in using different art styles for comic work. This only includes Kiby’s adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1976) which was so ambitious since Kirby took it in his own direction! This was the same when he took the concept of Planet of the Apes and turned it into Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth with the experimental Cortexin transforming tigers, dolphins, and all sorts of animals in a post-apocalyptic Earth! Jack Kirby’s greatest strength as an artist was his endless well of creativity in all sorts of genres. He was incredibly prolific, churning out masterpieces that would put to shame a studio of current comic artists, and pushing the medium! Discover the fantastic art of Jack Kirby at the Corey Helford Gallery before it is gone!
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