{"id":6511,"date":"2020-03-27T17:15:49","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T16:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/caurette.com\/non-fiction\/kirbysphere-xavier-fournier\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T11:10:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T09:10:10","slug":"kirbysphere-xavier-fournier","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/caurette.com\/en\/non-fiction\/kirbysphere-xavier-fournier\/","title":{"rendered":"Kirbysph\u00e8re – Xavier Fournier"},"content":{"rendered":"

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KIRBYSPH<\/strong>\u00c8<\/strong>RE
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Influences and connections in the work of Jack Kirby, by Xavier Fournier.<\/h2><\/h3><\/span>
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\"Couverture<\/a><\/span><\/div>
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Liberdistri<\/span><\/a><\/div>
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About Xavier Fournier<\/h1>\n<\/div>

Xavier Fournier\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>is a writer, journalist and lecturer specialising in comics, publishing articles on the subject since 1993. After his debut at\u00a0USA Magazine<\/em>, he spent 18 years writing for\u00a0Comic Box<\/em>\u00a0magazine. He has previously published four books:\u00a0Super-H\u00e9ros : Une histoire fran\u00e7aise<\/em>,\u00a0Super-H\u00e9ros Fran\u00e7ais\u00a0: l\u2019Anthologie<\/em>, and\u00a0Super-H\u00e9ros l\u2019Envers du costume<\/em>\u00a0et\u00a0Comics en guerre<\/em>. He doesn\u2019t have a secret identity but he\u2019s forever alert to questions about comics!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Xavier Fournier<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Cover concepts by\u00a0St\u00e9phane Perger<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

About the book<\/h1>\n<\/div>

Kirbysph\u00e8re<\/em>\u00a0is a 400-page essay consecrated to the work of Jack Kirby, one of the most famous comic authors of all time. The \u201cKing\u201d co-created Captain America, The Avengers, The Fantastic Four and hundreds of other characters. He\u2019s influenced comics, cinema and pop culture well beyond his vast readership.<\/p>\n

Kirbysph\u00e8re<\/em>\u00a0is not just another biography about the artist (several of which already exist) but a study of what drove the author, so at ease with writing and drawing, and how it fed into his creations.\u00a0What idea was secretly passed on from one decade to the next, putting characters into the same narrative?<\/span>\u00a0Which episodes refer to Star Trek and Star Wars?<\/span>\u00a0How to understand that a minor element thought of in 1967 influenced a modern superhero movie?<\/span>\u00a0In other words, Kirbysph\u00e8re reveals part of the \u201cbiosphere\u201d Kirby\u2019s imagination, hence the title.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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The book<\/h1><\/h1><\/span>
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Basically, this project started with the\u00a0Oldies but goodies<\/em>\u00a0chronicles that appeared on\u00a0comicbox.com<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for a number of years, where Xavier Fournier used his erudition to retell various episodes (sometimes a famous story, sometimes a little-known but crucial tale). Reference, re-contextualisation and homage\u2026 The density of narration is such in Jack Kirby\u2019s work that it is a titanic task to untangle the thread of decades of work. Who else could so majestically demonstrate which frame alludes to a novel, which background character refers to a politician, which invention echoes a scientific discovery, and which posing Avenger is an homage to an 18th-century mythology painting?<\/p>\n

Kirbysph\u00e8re<\/em>\u00a0is 400 pages of explanation and analysis grounded with references and a rich iconography that put the work of this hugely talented creator into perspective. For example \u2013 here\u2019s an extract:\u00a0Captain America se r\u00e9veille \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e8re moderne et est recueilli par les Avengers<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Kirbysph\u00e8re<\/em>\u00a0is mainly based on Xavier Fournier\u2019s research for his chronicles but many have been rewritten and over a third of the book contains new material to complete the puzzle. The result is adorned with numerous notes that help to form a detailed genealogy of Jack Kirby\u2019s many creations.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Jack Kirby (DR)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Characteristics<\/h1><\/h1><\/span>
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