Drifting into a world of limitless dimensions
April 19, 2012 7:38 AM   Subscribe

 
Very, very interensting find, Artw. Thanks!

Oh, there's that Richard Hamilton collage as the page's lead-off graphic. Among my hundreds of folders of downloaded graphic stuff I have one named "garish tastes of the ancients" which has some gilded louis quinze furniture, some ormolu, sub-Poussin wallpaper art showing lots of pink goddess butts, stuff like that. One day it struck me that I should have a matching folder called "garish tastes of the moderns." For content I started it off with the hamilton thing.
posted by jfuller at 8:17 AM on April 19, 2012


Man, Kirby's collages were really something. I need to crack open my Fourth World omnibus books when I get home because I don't remember the pages in there looking this good.
posted by griphus at 8:19 AM on April 19, 2012


Fascinating article-- thanks! I'm surprised the author didn't mention Jim Steranko, though. Did Kirby start using collage in comics before Steranko?
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 8:29 AM on April 19, 2012


Very cool find. I love the colour and patterning in this one.
posted by Cuke at 8:30 AM on April 19, 2012


While it doesn't degrade the quality of his work or originality, Steranko was following Kirby's 2-3 year lead with the photocollages.
posted by griphus at 8:40 AM on April 19, 2012


Oh, wait, he apparently took over wholesale on Kirby's Nick Fury stuff in Strange Tales after doing inks and pencils for a while. So I guess it's less following his lead and more being directly influenced by.
posted by griphus at 8:45 AM on April 19, 2012


I love Kirby's collages, but I hated them when I was a kid and they were new. Comic books were printed so cheaply that photos looked like globs of mud. It was always disappointing to turn the page and see more mud-globs.
posted by Superfrankenstein at 9:35 AM on April 19, 2012


Thanks, griphus.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 9:40 AM on April 19, 2012


Comic books were printed so cheaply that photos looked like globs of mud.

Yeah, that's my take on it as well. Lord only knows what Kirby could have done with some decent print quality, not to mention digital tools like Photoshop.
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:17 AM on April 19, 2012


Interestingly the classic Kirby style, with the blocky lines ideal for trapping the overflowing colors, is very much a product of the print technology of it's time. The occasional collages almost seem like an attempt to go in the opposite direction and push limits once in a while.
posted by Artw at 11:27 AM on April 19, 2012


Man, this is badass. Not being into comics culture, I had no idea Kirby delved into collage and photo at all. Thanks!

Also, it makes me kinda sad that Winston Smith's colllages weren't featured here as an example.
posted by Rykey at 7:46 AM on April 20, 2012


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