Jack Kirby was born today in 1917. Some of the first comics I ever bought in New Zealand during the late'70's were from Kirby's 1975-1977 run on Captain America and his Machine Man issues of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Before the arrival of comic specialty shops in Australasia, American comics with Kirby's work received spotty newsstand distribution through Gordon and Gotch. Kirby's work was also reprinted by numerous New Zealand and Australian comics publishers from the early 1950's. The Gallery below features a selection of Kirby covers from NZ and OZ reprints.
New Zealand editions of Black Magic an early production of Jack Kirby and Joe Simon. Black Magic was one of the titles cited by Richard Clendenen, Director of the Senate Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency in Senate hearings conducted after the publication of Frederic Wertham's Seduction of The Innocent.
Australian editions of the Fantastic Four published by Newton Comics.
2001: A Space Odyssey - Yaffa Publishing Group (Scans courtesy of Ausreprints.)
The X-Men - Newton Comics (Scans courtesy of Ausreprints.)
The Avengers - Newton Comics (Scans courtesy of Ausreprints.)
