The kiss of death.This astonishing sculpture forms part of Barcelona’s Poblenou Cemetery. The Kiss of Death (El Petó de la Mort in Catalan and El beso de la muerte in Spanish) dates back to 1930. A winged skeleton bestows a kiss on the lips of a handsome young man: is it ecstasy on his face or resignation? Little wonder the sculpture elicits strong and varying responses from whoever gazes upon it.
I’ve been getting way into Jim Starlin lately. I can’t help comparing him to Jack Kirby in my head. Not because of the obvious debt Thanos owes to Darkseid (although I think the two are actually very distinct villains who are great in different ways, despite their similarities). It’s more the fact that Starlin swept into these Marvel books and filled them with his own richly textured cosmic mythology. A single Starlin issue, much like a Kirby book, is crammed full of new concepts and characters. Thanos is the big one, of course, but along with him came Mentor, Kronos, Eros (who didn’t become the creepiest Avenger until much later), Drax the Destroyer, Eon, and so forth. And it all interlocked, in the way that mythologies do. I was surprised to learn that Starlin didn’t actually create Adam Warlock or the first Marvel Captain Marvel, because it’s impossible to imagine what those characters would be without him. And then there’s his art (see above)- the experimental layouts and the positively enormous scope. It’s not that it resembles Kirby’s work; it’s that it seems to spring from a kindred creative spirit.
I have more to say about Starlin soon. I’m having a busy week.
