There’s no denying that Jack Kirby is a proper legend. He’s quite literally shaped the comics landscape, and inspired every subsequent generation of creator. But even some 30 years after his death, there’s still pioneering left for the King — in the realm of crowdfunding.
Sky Masters of the Space Force – The Complete Sunday Strips in Color represents the first officially crowdfunded Kirby project. (The only other similar crowdfunded Kirby book features a series of artists’ homages.) While this book’ has been released before, this so-called “larger deluxe edition” is packed with bonus material. This re-release was organized in part by designer/producer Ferran Delgado in a collaboration with members of the Jack Kirby Museum & Research Center (director Randolph Hoppe and president Tom Kraft).
As you might have already gathered from the title, Sky Masters collects every single comic strip that ran from 1959-1960, which Kirby published alongside artists Dick Ayers and other artists. The hardcover tome also features “never-before-seen visionary scrapbook panels, articles by renowned experts, and examples of stunning original art.” The art may be older than Coffee-Mate, but it’s just more proof of the true visionary style that defined Kirby across his entire life and career.
To get an even better idea of this must-have chronicle of Kirby-ian history, we posed a few questions to Randolph Hoppe of the Jack Kirby Museum & Research Center. That includes the value of this early Kirby project, Kirby’s collaborations on the strip, some standout moments, and even the ongoing work of the museum/research center.
The Zoop campaign for Sky Masters is currently live. If you’d like to support the project, head here.
Courtesy of Zoop.
AIPT: What was the genesis of this project — why do people need to read/see Sky Masters of the Space Force – The Complete Sunday Strips in Color right now?
Randolph Hoppe: Sky Masters of the Space Force is an important part of Jack Kirby’s career. The 1950s were a terrible time for the comic book business, Kirby especially. He was selling work to DC/National Comics at the time, and developing pitches for newspaper comic strips on his own. Newspaper comic strips were considered a step up from comic books. To have Wallace Wood work with him was considered a coup. Kirby’s color work on the Sunday strips is also incredible and fans mostly familiar with him through his later work at Marvel and DC have probably never seen him coloring his own stories. The strip is classic late 1950s post-Sputnik Americana, like ‘57 Chevys and pre-Army Elvis Presley songs. Kirby’s comic strip work is generally overlooked, but Sky Masters is especially interesting and enjoyable. It’s an honor to be able to share it in this way.
AIPT: Similarly, what does Sky Masters represent in the grand Kirby canon? Is it something that really informs the other groundbreaking work he’d do later?
RH: While the Wood brothers, Dick and Dave, were credited with writing the strip, it was Kirby who did the visual research. The strip was not a space opera, but a look into a fictional pre-NASA space program. The Sunday strips’ Scrap Book features were filled with then-current facts and ideas regarding science and space travel. The research informed much of Kirby’s later space and cosmic themed work, like Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, and Silver Star. You could even look at Sky Masters as the missing link in Kirby’s work between the Challengers of the Unknown for DC/National and the Fantastic Four for Marvel.
AIPT: The Sky Masters stuff was co-created by Wallace Wood and Dick Ayers. What can you tell us about either man and their work with Kirby?
RH: The Wood/Kirby credit in the Sky Masters strips referred to the Wood brothers and Kirby, although many think it refers to Wallace Wood, whose beautiful inks made the first years of the strip such a joy to read. Wood the inker was not related to the writing Wood brothers, but his contributions to the art are part of what make this such a special project. Once legal problems regarding Sky Masters ensued, Wood left the inking job and Kirby hired Dick Ayers, who did a great job emulating Wood’s style. Wood had started inking Kirby’s Challengers of the Unknown around the same time as his work on Sky Masters, and he would express interest in inking Kirby throughout the rest of his life. Ayers inked Kirby again for a brief time for Gilberton, the publishers of Classics Illustrated, and then for some very well known western, monster, and superhero stories and characters at early Marvel.
AIPT: This book also came together thanks to the efforts of designer/producer Ferran Delgado. What did he bring to the project? And how did you collectively approach “changing” Kirby’s work (which I assume might be a decidedly scary/intimidating prospect)?
RH: This is Ferran’s book. He pulled everything together, designed it, did the research, and got the hard-to-find first edition published. Ferran has been lettering and designing comics publications for many years, first for Spanish publishers, and now in the US. Making a Sky Masters book has been his life’s dream. He has also been a supporter of the Jack Kirby Museum since its founding, so it’s wonderful to be able to offer this second edition with some additional enhancements. The book is filled with details of how he approached the Sky Masters remastering process.
AIPT: This is the first time Kirby’s work has been officially crowdfunded. Was there any hesitation in making that move, and why now and with this specific project?
RH: No, no particular hesitation. The Jack Kirby Museum is a small operation with limited resources. Crowdfunding, really, was the best way to move forward. The folks at Zoop have been approaching us for a while now. We are excited to be able to take this step forward with them.
AIPT: Also, this is the first book from Kirby Museum Press. Why go into the publishing business, as it were, and what other projects can we expect down the road?
RH: We’ve worked with a number of publishers over the years, and knew that creating “Kirby Museum Press” was the way to go. We helped Ferran significantly with the first edition, and when we acquired the English language rights to Ferran’s book, it made sense as a great first project. We certainly have other books in the pipeline, but I can’t provide any more details yet. They’re Kirby — they’ll be awesome!!!
AIPT: I’m curious, if this book is an introduction for some folks to the wonderful Kirby-verse, what would you tell these folks? How do you fully prepare for Kirby?
RH: Jack Kirby was the ultimate comic book creator. There’s a good reason he was called the King, and his wife Roz put a crown on his gravestone. He knew that great stories combined with impactful art are the foundation of great comics. His development of panel to panel action, and page to page continuity, using techniques informed by comic strip artists like Milton Caniff is groundbreaking and so embedded in comic book language that we often forget that it was Kirby who brought it about. Will Eisner and Jack Cole were there at the beginning, too. To see Kirby, after twenty years of working in comic books get the chance to create a Sunday newspaper strip, with Wallace Wood inking, no less, is incredible. Kirby also prepared the color guides for the Sunday strips, so it’s a rare pleasure to see certified “Kirby Kolor.”
AIPT: I also think there’s been an uptick on Kirby-related projects as of late (Tom Scioli’s The Epic Life of the King of Comics, Starr Warriors, etc.) Why does he remain so essential, and what about his work speaks to this moment in time specifically?
RH: Kirby knew the power that mythology had to tell stories that engaged readers and helped them understand their existence. He loved legends about heroes and was also of the age where technological innovations like aviation and radio were changing human life and society. Some of his most essential work is that which combines all of these concepts. Now that superhero movies have become a part of the culture at large, people (like us!) are doing what we can to bring Jack Kirby back in people’s awareness. As far as comic book superheroes are concerned, there’s Siegel & Shuster’s Superman, and then there’s Jack Kirby.
AIPT: Do you have a favorite moment/page/panel/etc. in this book that speaks highly to Kirby’s work and overall significance?
RH: The Kirby/Wood art is just excellent. The image that Ferran chose for the cover, Sky in a helmet with blue and red coloring, reminds me so much of Kirby’s Galactic Head from ten years later. He certainly explored so much of the Space Race and Cold War that would later be integral to the Fantastic Four and his early Hulk.
I also love that Sky Masters had an emergency moon landing.
AIPT: I also think now’s a good time to talk about the Jack Kirby Museum & Research Center. What can you tell us about your work through the Center and why it’s so important to continue to spread the word about Jack Kirby?
RH: People seem to be loving superheroes more and more, in spite of the ups and downs of box office ticket sales, and we are thrilled to be able to talk as much about Jack Kirby as possible. So many stories, characters, and ideas that we all know and love came from his pencil! We collaborate with scholars, publishers, exhibitors, and more!
AIPT: Why should anyone support or back this project?
RH: It’s a beautiful book, lovingly researched, with great color art re-mastered, from the Space Race late 1950s. Jack Kirby and Wallace Wood are making beautiful art, [and] Kirby’s color is outstanding.
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