After way too many weeks of struggling with it, the new Jack Kirby Collector (#52) is off to press, and the Digital Edition is already posted for downloading. This was one of the hardest to produce yet, due mainly to one article in it about an unused Thor story by Jack. I spent countless hours working on it, which is why blog posts have been missing here the last few weeks. But I’m back in the saddle again, and looking forward to a couple of Kirby-less weeks to recover, before it’s on to #53.

And see that awesome cover image by Kirby? I’ve been searching for that one since about 1995, when I first saw it in the background of a photo of Jack appearing at a comic convention. It finally turned up (compliments of Jack’s grandson Jeremy Kirby; thanks, Jeremy!), and I’m especially proud to be able to finally present it as a cover.

That image was one of two Kirby art items that I swore I’d have to track down before I could stop doing the Kirby Collector (or die, whichever came first). The other? Any page from Jack’s original version of Spider-Man, which Stan Lee rejected before turning the project over to Steve Ditko to draw. If you happen to be in possession of a copy or scan of any of that, make my dream come true and send it in, okay? I’ll give a lifetime subscription to ALL our mags, to anyone who sends it!