Kirby's Captain Victory Resolicited

Jack Kirby is a legend for obvious reasons, but some people might not know that Kirby's departure from comics came about largely because he felt Stan Lee had taken undue credit for a lot of his work. Kirby basically designed such characters as Spider-Man (though Ditko is more closely-related to the webslinger), Daredevil, the Fantastic Four, and many more. But Kirby continued to do sequential art long after the whole Marvel thing fell apart. This is an official Image Comics press release:

BERKELEY, CA (October 1^st, 2007) - While Image Comics is set to expand its line of creator-owned Jack Kirby classics with the upcoming CAPTAIN VICTORY hardcover, the decision has been made to hold off its release until a proper restoration can be completed.

"The last thing we want to do is release an inferior version of this material," Executive Director of Image Comics Eric Stephenson stated. "The more involved we've gotten in the restoration process, the more obvious it has become that the files and art we're working simply aren't up to par with those used for SILVER STAR. Faced with the decision to either complete a sub-standard edition or do this with the care and fine attention to detail it deserves, we've decided to push the book's release back."

The choice was simple for Stephenson and company. Image Comics will cancel open orders on CAPTAIN VICTORY and resolicit for first quarter 2008. In addition, Image is putting out a call to all art collectors who in possession of Kirby's original pages. Anyone with access to original CAPTAIN VICTORY artwork is encouraged to e-mail Image Comics via info@imagecomics.com.

Stephenson explained, "With SILVER STAR, John Morrow at TwoMorrows supplied with near-perfect scans of the original pages. Unfortunately, it's been much harder to track down everything we need for CAPTAIN VICTORY. Nothing beats the quality of scans of Jack's untouched work. Anyone with access to those pages can help us ensure this will be the best hardcover possible."

CAPTAIN VICTORY, a 376-page full-color hardcover priced at $44.99, will be resolicited for an early 2008 release.