Rip Kirby Volume 6

Rip Kirby 59-62 is another great volume (# 6) in this collection. Prentice and his assistant Al Williams (yes that Al!) do a great job of laying out some super art, great visual and narrative story telling. We get to see Desmond, Rip’s Alfred, in a Rear Window segment, Rip has adventures with two lovely ladies in Mayan ruins, being stranded with two beauties sounds great but not if you are trapped in a Mayan temple running out of air! Can they escape? Can Rip uncover the mystery behind a long missing actress, what became of her, was she killed and if so by whom, where and when? To prove himself to a blowhard Rip takes up the ‘cold case’, can he find out what happened when the movie star fled to the desert and was never seen again? And can Rip, once again defeat the Mangler, who has laid a trap for our detective? Of course he can, its his strip! How he does it and how the story is told and shown is what makes Rip a classic and why it was voted Best Adventure strip a few times. Good stories and great art together. IDW also has the best ‘liner notes’ of any of the comic strip reprint books, you get the strips and some history as well. These notes help understand the times and the men working on these strips. For me they add a great deal to the enjoyment of the volume. Keep up the good work IDW and the Library of American Comics. I already own Volume 7 and will read that one soon!

Volume 6 of the Rip Kirby series doesn't disappoint. This book has eight stories from mid-1959 through early 1962. Other than the fashions of those days, these stories are timeless and entertaining. Actually, one story in the middle of this volume is indeed timeless, but I shouldn't give away any more info on that... The first story gives you Honey Dorian as you've never seen her before, but the rest of the book involves locales away from the city involving mostly new characters. You'll probably like Minx more and more with each page you turn, the Lamont case is very good as is Kirby's visit to Harmony. The stories are good, but the real star is John Prentice. His artwork is consistently excellent throughout. For the price, this book provides hours of top notch entertainment. Like all good fiction, this is good exercise for the imagination.

This book has a lot of the features of previous volumes of the series. It has high production values throughout. It has a wonderful biographical feature on artist John Prentice supported by a good selection of non-Kirby work and photographs. It also has some great Kirby story arcs in the first half of the book. The first story has Honey Dorian in a very critical undercover role. The second (although rather short) features Kirby's nemesis, the Mangler, whose appearances are always welcome. The next two, while not as memorable, are good as well. The last four, however, while not without interest, seem to be non-Kirbyish somehow. The fifth story, Between Haven and Hell, has a somewhat absurd plot that is more reminiscent of the Phantom than Rip Kirby. The next, For Lack of Elise, has no real villain. The worst of the lot, Living in Harmony, doesn't involve crime, has an absurd plot, and wouldn't be out of place on the Twilight Zone. There is some recovery in the last story, The Packer Expedition, but even here Kirby is more of an action hero than detective and does nothing to catch the villain. Recommended despite reservations. Let's hope in the next volume we get some more Mangler and some Pagan Lee.

This is truly a golden age of adventure comic strip reprints. I have been buying them all but this is the one which is the biggest discovery to me. What a wonderful strip this was. It ranks up there with Terry & The Pirates and Prince Valiant as one of my very favorites of all time. The first four volumes from Alex Raymond blew me away and I enjoyed Raymond's work here way more then on Flash Gordon. When volume 4 concluded John Prentice took over and I was delighted to discover his art was just as fantastic. When The American Comic Library solicited a fifth volume of all John Prentice art I was shocked and pre-ordered it right away. It was a delight. And now yet another John Prentice volume has been released and I am even more amazed. What a lost treasure. This new volume features Prentices collaboration with fellow legend Al Williamson who worked as his assistant for most of these strips. Williamson even moving down to Mexico with Prentice for 17 months when Prentice relocated. Included in the introduction are many of Williamsons' layout drawings that shaped the stories. Also deserving much credit is writer Fred Dickinson. Now for the meat of the book, the eight delightful story arcs: #1 THE MUDEROUS MATCHES serves as a great introduction to the series for new comers by introducing detective Remington Kirby and his butler and right hand man former burglar Desmond plus gal Friday and love interest Honey Dorian. Honey who appeared in more then 40% of the earlier stories makes her single appearance in this story. The story centers around Desmond blundering onto a murder scene and setting himself up as suspect #1. #2 THE MANGLER AND THE MOLL brings back Rips reoccurring nemesis The Mangler, this time in an old west setting. #3 CAPTAIN DOOM AND THE GRIFTERS is my favorite of this volume. It is ripping tale of pirates and treasures and beautiful woman the likes of which Milton Caniff could not have done better. Prentices Minx is the kind of Asian Fem Fatale that Caniff did so well and I hope we some day meet her again. #4 FORTUNE'S FOLLY finds Rip undercover trying to protect a runaway heiress. #5 BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL is about a secret island which holds many of the world's greatest treasures, all stolen. #6 FOR THE LACK OF ELSIE centers on Rip traveling to New Mexico to solve the mystery of long unresolved disappearance of a beautiful movie star. #7 LIVING IN HARMONY is a close 2nd favorite story. It is an offbeat and magical tale about Rip and Desmond discovering a quaint lost little town which is cut off from the world and stuck in the 1890's. Truly this demonstrates the diversity of the strips. #8 THE PACKER EXPEDITION starts out as light hearted romp with twin sisters both pursuing Rip but things turn deadly serious when the three of them and thief all wind up on a trip to investigate Mayan runes. Comic strip creator and historian Brian Walker has a fascinating introduction about the life of John Prentice. Sprinkled in the introduction are some beautiful Prentice illustrations. The Library Of American Comics does yet another fantastic job production wise. The art could not look better. We now have about 5 years of the John Prentice run in print. That leaves another 38 years worth that I want to own. Please support these books so a lost master gets his due. You won't be disappointed. My Highest Recommendation.

This was an excellent product with very good drawings and stories. The stories included the visit to Harmony, a town that was lost and stayed in forgotten from the outside world. Between Haven and Hell was an interesting story about where the missing art work goes when stolen. In another story, Desmond was framed by Mangler as a murderer. RIp and Honey helped him.

If you love Strip comics, this is a beautiful collection of John Prentice stories.

Excellent stories, great art. As good as it gets. R.K. is the epitome of the gentleman detective, with Desmond being the epitome of the gentleman's gentleman.

Per gli amanti di Rip Kirby è una serie imperdibile. Speriamo continui la serie fino al termine. Da non perdere.

Ottimo a livello di stampa, di formato e di impaginazione. Condizioni che permettono un'ottima godibilità di lettura e qualità dei disegni.

When I was growing up in the 80's Indrajala Comics was a staple diet and Rip Kirby was one of the key characters being printed by this comic series. Recently while browsing Amazon I came across this reprint series and now I have both Volume 5 and 6, which are outstanding reprints of the series from the 60's, a must have book if you are comic book collector.

very happy thanks