Review by Woodrow Phoenix

Jack Kirby drew the adventures of The Fantastic Four from 1961 to 1971. His huge list of inventions and innovations in his time on that series and other Marvel titles made the Marvel universe what it is today, and his influential shadow falls across all writers and artists making superhero comics whether they embrace it or reject it. Quite a legacy for one man, and his original art pages for the Fantastic Four have been reproduced in two Artist’s Editions from IDW, Jack Kirby’s Fantastic Four: The World’s Greatest Artist’s Edition featuring pages drawn at the massive pre-1968 size of 381 x 550 mm (15 x 22 inches); and the Jack Kirby Fantastic Four Artist’s Edition with pages at the now-standard original art size of 430 x 280mm. These beautiful books are expensive, unwieldy to handle and far too impractical for standard bookshelves. So for all those fans who would love to see that amazing original art but don’t want or need to commit to the full-size reproductions, here is the ideal compromise: a half-sized hardcover book, The Art of Fantastic Four.

This 260 x 362 mm ‘Bullpen Books’ production presents five complete stories, allowing readers to experience these adventures through Kirby’s astonishing drawings beautifully inked by Joe Sinnott in detail that the printed comics weren’t able to capture completely. The selections are from issue 60, ‘The Peril and The Power’; issue 71, ‘…And So it Ends…’; issue 82, ‘The Mark of–the Madman’; issue 83, ‘Shall Man Survive?’ and the 48-page King-Size Special, Fantastic Four Annual 6, ‘Let There Be…Life’. In between these stories are all the covers that Kirby drew for 101 issues, most of them colour reproductions of the printed comics but some of them also original art where that was available. All pin-ups drawn for various comics get their own section too.

All the original art is the same scans used in the much larger Artist’s Editions, but rather than being laid out with every millimetre of the page surface visible, these images are all slightly cropped to fill the spreads almost to their edges. This gives the book an energetic, less formal quality which works well with the light text pieces from writer Ryan North, editor John Lind, and designer Ian Chalgren. This is a very nicely put together, consumer-friendly look at the work of The King, perfect for finding out just how Jack Kirby earned that title.