In the 1980s, writer Steve Gerber was embroiled in a lawsuit against Marvel Comics over ownership of his creation Howard The Duck. To raise funds for legal fees, Gerber asked Jack Kirby to contribute to a benefit comic titled Destroyer Duck. Without hesitation, Kirby (who was in his own dispute with Marvel at the time) donated his services for the first issue, and the duo took aim at their former employer in an outrageous five-issue run. With biting satire and guns blazing, Duke “Destroyer” Duck battled the thinly veiled Godcorp (whose infamous credo was “Grab it all! Own it all! Drain it all!”), its evil leader Ned Packer and the (literally) spineless Booster Cogburn, Medea (a parody of Daredevil’s Elektra), and more! Now, all five Gerber/Kirby issues are collected—but relettered and reproduced from Jack’s unbridled, uninked pencil art! Also included are select examples of Alfredo Alcala’s unique inking style over Kirby on the original issues, Gerber’s script pages, an historical Introduction by Mark Evanier (co-editor of the original 1980s issues), and an Afterword by Buzz Dixon (who continued the series after Gerber)! Discover all the hidden jabs you missed when Destroyer Duck was first published, and experience page after page of Kirby’s raw pencil art!
- TwoMorrows, May 17, 2023
- ISBN 978-1-60549-117-2
- 8″ x 11″, 144 pages, hardcover
- $31.95 USD
- Order online: eBay
As with all AE format material (Artist’s Editions, Artifact Editions, Gallery Editions, Art Editions, Studio Editions, etc.), this is a collection of classic comic material and I’ll be reviewing the book and not the story. For a complete list of all current and announced editions, with review links, please visit our Index. Also, see What is an Artist’s Edition and our Artist Index. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
A complete collection of Kirby’s pencils to his five issues on Destroyer Duck, plus contextual essays and extra material. Add to that new lettering on the artwork and you’ve got a unique readable experience. It really digs into the nitty-gritty with scripts, unused art, and essays. This is late Kirby, but the magic is still there, along with some rough edges.
At the time Kirby was photocopying his original art onto 8.5″ x 11″ paper, which allowed for this book to happen, along with Jack Kirby Pencils and Inks Artisan Edition and Jack Kirby’s Dingbat Love, which I’ll be reviewing later.
Scans are clear and without artifacts or softness. These are pencils for most of the book so they lack the pop of inked pages, plus these were 1970’s photocopies. At this stage no correction fluid or blacks, but we get the occasional margin note. Well, let’s be fair to Alcala’s inks that show up for the last fifteen pages: these do have some correction fluid and the blacks show some gradients. They also appear to have some greys applied. All text has been replaced but it’s done very well and flows with the look of the pages. You do get to see Kirby’s rough word balloons on the unused panels.
The design is engaging and follows TwoMorrows’ look: they have a house style of font, colour and page layout that is carried across their line. You can’t do much with pencilled pages, but they put a page number at the bottom center. Kirby Krackle in pencil is the header along most text pages and adds a nice touch. I enjoyed the endpapers: the pencilled art to open and the same art inked to close.
Production is quite good: a sewn binding of a moderately heavy matte paper stock, possibly 80 gsm. Pages lay flat when the center is smoothed, even where the signatures are glued. It’s a solid book.
This isn’t just a presentation of original art, but a presentation of the art with its historical context and behind-the-scenes information from the team involved. I always want art as large as possible, but that wouldn’t work for these copies of pencils.
I’ve referred to the introduction and afterword as essays for simplicity and because they are quite involved. I also greatly appreciate that there’s a link on the colophon to an article about Gerber’s legal battle if you want to dig a little deeper.
