Gah, this is too awesome. I know the news of Jack Kirby’s unearthed Ruby-Spears concepts have been making the rounds today, but it’s only because the New York Times article dropped an info bomb on a pretty jaded group of comic fans. Back in the 80s, Kirby bowed out of comics and moved to animation, specifically Ruby-Spears, the studio that created and distributed toons like Plastic Man, Thundarr The Barbarian (which Kirby did some work for) and Centurions among many others. While working there, Kirby dreamed up 600 pages worth of pitches and character designs which R-S own outright and have been workig with Syd and Marty Kroft to turn into feature films, TV, cartoons, toys and whatever else they can come up with. Do yourself a favor and go check out the 11 image slideshow. I’m not sure how movies based on Kirby characters that no one knows anything about will turn out, but anything that uses his design aesthetic and style as a jumping off point will be great. Hell, I’d be happy with a simple book or book series reprinting the artwork. Someone get on that STAT!
