Comic Book Men Season 7 Episode 3: Happy Birthday King Kirby!

Comic Book Men Season 7 Episode 3: Happy Birthday King Kirby!

November 20, 2017 0 By EVA

“Without Jack ‘King’ Kirby, where are we today, man?”

In this week’s Comic Book Men, the crew at Secret Stash looks at a few iconic Fantastic Four issues and throws a birthday party fit for a king–or his grandkids–in honor of Jack Kirby’s birthday.

The merchandise brought in for sale this episode was kept strictly to comics, with two very important issues of the Fantastic Four coming across the counter. The first was duo who wanted to sell a few copies of Fantastic Four #12 from 1963, where The Hulk and The Thing square off. The kicker is that they brought in four of the same issue, making it possible for me to write that Walt looked at four fantastic Fantastic Four issues. It’s the little things. Also, a young man brought in a copy of the first appearance of Black Panther–Fantastic Four #52. He wanted to sell it to pay for a Blank Panther helmet for his cosplay, explaining that the hero had inspired him on his fitness journey.

For the birthday celebration in the store, Walt rolls out the royal treatment for two of Jack Kirby’s grandkids–Jeremy and Tracey Kirby. Cosplayers from some of Kirby’s best known work milled around the store and sipped champagne while Jeremy and Tracey showed original designs and sketches from Kirby. The best was the original concept art for Blank Panther which I won’t spoil here but let’s just say it is….remarkably different from the Blank Panther we know today.

Finally, my favorite part of the show, the mini-debates. This week, the Comic Book Men asked one another whether or not they could, hypothetically as a superhero, be married to a superhero. And how secure would they need to be in their superhero-ness to be married to someone more super than them? Also, is the cape passe? Results were mixed on both and honestly, the questions are so nuanced this round I’m not sure I could pick one side over the other.

Comic Book Men airs late night Sundays on AMC and you can always check back here with me and The GCE to see what you missed.