And Then I Read: KIRBY GENESIS 2 & 3

Images © Roslyn Kirby Family Trust.

In these issues even more Jack Kirby characters are added to the large numbers introduced earlier, though the impact is somewhat less chaotic because we now have several groups gathering together in different places, each with a common goal. Of course one of them is the villains, whose leader has emerged, and unfortunately for her, the female warrior character that has taken over the body of young Bobbi, one of our viewpoint characters, is on that team. Meanwhile, her father and friend Kirby are still trying to find out where she is and getting mixed up in another group of metahumans, including an impressive "bigfoot" character, as seen on this cover. There's also a primitive jungle world with dinosaurs, godlike types with egos as large as their powers, characters full of glowing Kirby energy, massive space ships, and lots more Kirby coolness, all rendered well by artists Alex Ross and Jack Herbert.

In fact, they somehow manage to make Kirby's women sexy, something he was rarely able to achieve.

Writer Kurt Busiek is still in there slugging, but again the huge cast is working against much character development, and at times even much action, which has to fit in between new character intros and bombastic speeches. It's there, but the balance still seems off, and the many storylines and motivations hard to keep track of. I'm liking the art enough to overlook much of that, though, and will keep reading.

Recommended.