The Jacked Kirby Podcast: Episode #4 - The King of Covers

Unless you live under a rock, you definitely know that Jack Kirby was a fantastic comic book artist. No one in the industry ever could claim to have as much published work as the King... but one aspect of his art that gets overlooked sometimes is his fantastic ability to create amazing COVERS for these books. Whether it was his monthly books that he was also doing pencils for, or just a book he never drew at all and was just pinch hitting on a cover as a guest artist, his body of work is just fabulous. Join hosts Tommy & Mike D as well as this weeks guests James West & Joey Armao as they talk about their favorite Kirby Covers ever!!!!

Embedded player, show notes and Kirby Konnections (pictures related to this episode of the podcast) after the jump....

Avengers #221 Covered by Ben Temples

One of my all time favorite comic book covers is Avengers #221. This is when the team was going through a line up change and Marvel seemed to be giving the fans an option of who would make up the newest roster of "Earth's Mightiest Heroes". I was given a run of Avengers books from #150 to #250 back in 1986-87 as a gift,  so these books are very near and dear to my heart. #221 always stood out to me because Ed Hannigan & Joe Rubenstein just killed the design and foster such intrigued in the readers mind. I always loved the blank box in the middle with "Invisible Girl" in the box. So funny. Covered is a really cool website (check here) that lets artists take on these classic covers, and Ben Temples decided to use the current crop of  "Marvel Movie" Avengers to recreate the epic cover.  Well done in my opinion. Click after the jump to see both the original #221 & Temples recreation in full glory...

The Cover For Deadpool #54 Takes A Turn Towards Ryan Reynolds...

I have always loved the playful style of the Deadpool character and how the guys who are writing his book play that up. But rarely have I ever been as amused by a book that I am not currently reading by something as simple as a cover shot. In this month's issue (#54) features The Merc With A Mouth buried in a coffin under ground alive, a la Ryan Reynolds in Buried. So fucking cool, considering Reynolds has played the character in the past & will probably portray him someday on the big screen. Click after the jump to see the full cover...

Amazing Spider Man #50 Gets A Drive Re-Design By Artist Nick Felvideki

The Amazing Spider Man #50 and it's cover by John Romita are legendary to all comic book geeks around the world. It is one of the most iconic covers ever. But given that everyone EXCEPT Oscar nominee voters has been completely obsessed with Ryan Gosling's portrayal of the stunt man in Drive, artist Nick Felvideki decided to incorporate this into his re-design. The results are epic. Seriously, how the fuck was Drive not nominated for Best Picture. At the very least Christina Hendricks should have been nominated for Best Juggs in an Dramatic Performance... wait, what??? Click after the jump for the original and Felvideki's re-design...

Animated Comic Book Covers

Although Kerry Callen isn't an animator, he sure has skills as he vamps up these old school comic covers. Check out his awesome animations of iconic comic covers.

How Come I Have Never Seen This?

Check out this really cool cover of 'The Incredible Hulk Vol #2 Issue #49' by the magnificent comic cover artist Kaare Andrews. This came out back in 2003 when I was on a hiatus from the comic industry, so that's why I must have missed it. You gotta love the 'Where The Wild Things Are' ideals that The Hulk has always displayed... the delicate balance between the large monster, that the Hulk is, and the much smaller but, more intelligent Max/David Banner holding them in check. Great cover. Hope you enjoy: