Way back in 1996, in Jack Kirby Collector #9, I pieced together the original version of what was meant to be Fantastic Four #102. Some of the original story ended up as a framing sequence in FF #108 (mixed with John Buscema pencil art), after Kirby had left Marvel for DC Comics in 1970. I had a bunch of chopped up Kirby pencil pages and panels that were never used, and combined them with the Kirby panels that were used in #108, and put the story back into (more or less) the original version Jack had drawn. Since 1996, the unused #102 splash page, and copies of most of the pencils from the #108 stuff, have turned up, so we had the story almost totally complete in pencil.

Enter Marvel’s Tom Brevoort, who got the great idea of having Stan Lee dialogue the unused story, and Joe Sinnott ink it. So, after making sure the Kirby family would be getting paid for the use of Jack’s art, I sent it all to Marvel. The end result is Fantastic Four: The Lost Adventure, which is in stores now. It presents the unused pencil version, the inked/dialogued version, and the story that ran in FF #108.

However, there were still a few panels missing from this unused pencil story, so Marvel got Ron Frenz to draw new art for the missing pieces. And wouldn’t you know it; a couple of weeks after Marvel publishes the whole thing, look what just showed up in my email box:

Yes, it’s a missing page from that unused story. A Kirby fan copped this low-res scan off of eBay back in 2004, when someone was selling it. We don’t have record of who actually bought it, and it may have changed hands since then.

If we can find a good scan of this pencil page, Joe Sinnott has agreed to ink it for us to run in the Jack Kirby Collector. So if you know who has it, or have a scan or xerox of this page, please get in touch with me at twomorrow@aol.com. I really want to see Jack’s final FF story completed, once and for all!

Starting immediately, all new and old items at www.twomorrows.com are
always 15% OFF COVER PRICE! So whether you missed an old issue, or
want to preorder one of our upcoming items, you’ll save big all year
long on the items you love the most.

And our new FREE 2008 Catalog is available now, in both print form,
and as a FULLY INTERACTIVE PDF FILE (when you click on any item, it’ll
automatically open your web browser and take you to the page where you
can see the full description and order it).

Plus, our updated web store now calculates exact weight-based postage on your order, so no more “per item” shipping charges!

So stop by and see all the new items we’ve added, and thanks for your
continued support of TwoMorrows!

A retailer has just returned a bunch of our old, sold-out items to us, and we’ve just listed them at www.twomorrows.com in the “Last Chance Items!” category. There’s only one or two of each item, so get there fast, or they’ll be gone! They are:

Against The Grain: MAD Artist Wallace Wood Softcover
All-Star Companion Volume
Comic Book Artist #11, 13, and 17
Draw! #2, 3, 7, and 12
Jack Kirby Collector #1-14, 18, 22, 28, and 29
Sense of Wonder
The Life & Art of Murphy Anderson
Write Now! #12

They’re all priced at their ORIGINAL COVER PRICE, so they’re great bargains (with many of them going much higher these days on eBay), but since they’re already so cheap, they’re not part of our new standard 15% off cover price discount.

And if you click on them and the button says “SOLD OUT”, sorry, someone got to them before you, so hurry! These are our ONLY REMAINING COPIES of all of these items!

Our own George Khoury (author of, most recently, our book on the history of Image Comics, which spurred the original founders’ reunion at last year’s Comicon International), now has a regular column at the Comic Book Resources website. Check it out at:

http://comicbookresources.com/columns/?column=28

It’ll feature George and some interesting guest contributors. Already, his first column has generated quite a bit of buzz (and a little controversy), so head on over when you get a minute.

Spent last evening with my lovely wife Pam at our local Ruth’s Chris Steak House (still don’t understand that name; is it Ruth’s, or Chris’?), celebrating our 21st wedding anniversary. We’re actually a week late celebrating, since we got married on January 16, 1987, but our babysitter wasn’t available last Wednesday, and anyway, Pam was tied up working on the planning for our daughter’s school’s Spring Art Festival (for which Pam volunteered her design services).

I’d never been to a Ruth’s Chris before; this time, we went compliments of a gift card from a friend, and the food and service were superb. It was certainly pricey, so not somewhere we’d go on a regular basis, but really nice for a special occasion. I recall they have one in San Diego, so we might just check it out when we’re there for Comicon this summer. Highly recommended!

January 16 is also Pam’s parent’s wedding anniversary, her Godmother’s birthday, and… (wait for it; you know I had a point in here somewhere)… the day we started our company TwoMorrows Advertising, back in 1990 (four years before we actually started publishing comics stuff as TwoMorrows Publishing). So it’s a really special day here at Casa de TwoMorrows.

Boy, 21 years is a long time to do anything with anyone, and why Pam’s not sick of me yet is beyond me. It’s also nice to know that you readers aren’t sick of us after 14 years of publishing. We’ve got lots of really fun, exciting plans for 2008, and our updated catalog goes to the printer today. I’ll be posting a fully-interactive version of it for downloading in a couple of weeks, once we get all the new stuff added to our site.

And if you shop at our site, I guarantee you’ll find something there in a couple of weeks that’s going to make you really, really happy. Stay tuned!

The Comic Geek Speak podcast has released their Best Of 2007 nominations, and several TwoMorrows Publishing projects are in the running in the Best Publication About Comics category:

BEST PUBLICATION ABOUT COMICS (print only):
Back Issue! the Ultimate Comics Experience (TwoMorrows)
Image Comics: the Road to Independence (TwoMorrows)
Comics Gone Ape! the Missing Link to Primates in Comics (TwoMorrows)

Over the next few days anyone can vote for their choices in each category, and they’ll announce the winners in an upcoming episode. For the complete Best Of list, visit: http://www.comicgeekspeak.com/news.html

After a much-needed holiday break, I got back late yesterday, to a mountain of phone messages and emails. To show you how seriously I took my vacation, I never once logged onto a computer, so didn’t notice that our website was down for the last five days! Webmeister Rand Hoppe was quickly alerted, and took care of the problem, so it’s back up and running. Look for some exciting new developments there over the next couple of weeks.

And thanks for your patience as we get out from under all the accumulate orders and correspondence we’ve got to dig through!

In case you’re curious, vacation took the form of a family get-together in Atlanta, followed by several days in sunny Orlando, Florida (two days of which had temps in the frigid 30s and 40s; sigh). Still, in spite of a couple of cold days, Pam, the girls, and I had a lot of fun. Although I’ve got to say; I much prefer DisneyLAND (in Anaheim, California, which we visit every summer after the San Diego Comicon) to DisneyWORLD in Orlando. DL just seems to try harder; the crowds aren’t as overwhelming, food’s less expensive, employees seem friendlier, restrooms are always immaculate… I dunno, maybe it’s just due to the sheer volume of people that go to Orlando. However, I will say that our dinner with the Disney Princesses at the Norway section of EPCOT was unbelievably entertaining for our three and six-year old daughters. The looks on their faces when Cinderella, Ariel, and others came over and sat down at our table was totally priceless. If you’ve got daughters, definitely check it out if you’re in Orlando. (And the food was fabulous too.)

For your chance to win one of five free copies of MEGO 8″ SUPERHEROES: WORLD’S GREATEST TOYS!, go to:

http://www.quickstopentertainment.com/2007/12/12/win-a-copy-of-mego-8-inch-superheroes-worlds-greatest-toys/

We’re supplying the goodies for this contest, but hurry to enter!

Our new book on Mego superhero action figures is listed in Whitney Matheson’s Pop Candy blog on USA Today today:

http://blogs.usatoday.com/popcandy/2007/12/these-pop-cultu.html

Congrats to author Benjamin Holcomb for the stellar job he’s done on this critically acclaimed book. Anyone who’s seen it has been floored by its comprehensiveness and design. Just a beautiful book!

Jack Kirby Museum director Rand Hoppe just called to tell me that the IRS finally approved the Museum’s 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status! What does this mean to you, the current or prospective Museum member? Not much directly, but it does mean the Museum doesn’t have to pay taxes on donations and fundraisers, so there’ll be that much more money available to put on displays.

If you haven’t joined, click the link above, and spread the Kirby love!