Kirby

Hail to the king, baby. Donatello encounters a reclusive artist named Kirby, who can bring his sketches to life with the power of a magic crystal-enhanced pencil. When they were blessed with unprecedented success, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' Eastman and Laird didn't forget their roots. They used their book to promote other independent creators, and they also showed respect to the ones who had influenced them - after all, when the fact you can make a house payment can be summed up as "Marv Wolfman, Chris Claremont, Frank Miller, and Steve Gerber, rolled up into a big ball," it pays to remember where you come from. And that's why the ninth TMNT comic ever published proudly praised the man who once made Johnny Carson mad by calling himself King of the Comics. (Johnny thought that meant "comedians," not "comicbooks," and couldn't understand why he'd never heard of the guy.) While the "Kirby" who appeared in the comic was just a loving homage to the actual man, this figure is fully and legally Jack Kirby: the bottom of the box specifically says "the use of Jack Kirby's image is used with permission granted by the Rosalind Kirby Trust," which is a poorly written sentence ("the use is used," guys? Really?) but does mean that this is more than a comicbook wink and nudge, this is literally a Jack Kirby action figure. First ever! And frankly, the toy looks more like Jack Kirby than the comic art ever did. Kirby the character in the comics was much younger than Kirby the actual person. Jack was in his late 60s at the time the book came out (1986), but this is basically an idealized version of the way he looked decades prior - no graying hair and a fairly thin face. The clothing is more contemporary, though, putting him in a collared shirt, a pullover sweater, jeans, and leather shoes. He's skinnier than you might expect - Kirby was a stocky little guy, so the toy could stand to be a little broader. Since this is technically one of the Mirage Comics figures, the sculpt and paint favor the comicbooky style, which seems appropriate. Jack apparently stood 5'2" in real life, so this figure being about 6¼" works in NECA's 7" scale, but also makes him look pretty decent if you want to put him with your Marvel Legends and re-create the time the Fantastic Four met God. The articulation is regular NECA stuff, with joints for the feet, ankles, knees, hips, waist, chest, wrists, elbows, shoulders, neck, and head. It's probably more than an artist needs, but now you can have him beating on right-wingers as much as he did in real life. Just Red Skull and Hydra lying on the ground, crying because this hard little Jewish kid was tougher than they were. Logically, Kirby includes the magic crystal pencil that was the engine behind the comic's story. It's a very small piece, and sturdier than you might expect, and there are alternate hands to replace his fists so he can actually hold it. We also get his sketchbook with two drawings in it, one of Donatello and one of a crazy little moster. And then since, like Simon, the things he draws come true, the set also includes a three-dimensional version of that same crazy little monster. It's taken straight from the comic, and definitely looks like a creature Jack Kirby would have come up with: some kind of cross between demonic and insectoid, with armor you could draw a bunch of shadows on, and big solid outlines around some parts (in this case, the mouth). The creation is red and dark grey, moves at the head, shoulders, and hips, and has a light gray spiked cudgel it can carry into battle. Because it's an accessory, it stands only 3⅜" tall; there was no indication the comic version was that small, but it's a necessary choice if it's to be included as a pack-in with another figure; Kirby's great, but nobody was anxious to buy a $50 set of Kirby and a full-sized demon. The final accessory isn't for Kirby himself: it's the blaster he drew for Donatello to use. Like we said, this was a very early comic, so they hadn't quite reached the "Lawson" look yet, but it was nearly there, and thus if you have that set, you can slide the blaster onto Donnie's arm and have him ready to attack. According to Peter Laird, he had Jack Kirby approve the issue before it was published, but you know what would have been really cool? Hire the dang guy to draw all the weird stuff in the issue, then fill in the rest of the scene around it! Make the Kirby book an actual Kirby book. The story was adapted into an episode of the 2003 cartoon with almost no changes, and it's definitely not the only time The King has appeared in a comicbook, but only NECA has turned him into an action figure. -- 07/11/24