Kirby Comics

Upcoming Kirby

2007-05-18T17:17:00.001-04:00

Was cleaning up a few things on the old site, and figured since I still get a fair level of traffic here thanks to old links and search engines I'd quickly mention that Mark Evanier has a coffee-table style artbook on Kirby coming out this fall, KIRBY: KING OF COMICS. This is not the comprehensive biography he's long promised, that is still in progress and will follow in a few years, but an art-heavy book designed to appeal to both established and casual fans.

As always, check the new home of the Kirby Weblog for updates and more details. It's a big year for Kirby reprints (massive hardcovers of the heart of the FF run and most of the Fourth World will be available by years end, plus a lot more).

And So It Begins...

2006-04-05T06:24:00.000-04:00

Come on, no one ever dies forever in comics....

Thanks to the kind invitation of Randolph Hoppe, the Jack Kirby Comics Weblog will now be hosted by The Jack Kirby Museum. So I guess I can call it "The Official Kirby Weblog" now. Hopefully this will bring more traffic to both the weblog and the museum site (and there are some big plans for that site). There'll be some changes, as I figure out WordPress and the options it provides, but for the most part more of the same, an almost daily dose of Kirby from his long career (actually, I was just curious and it looks like I've posted about 590 Kirby publications in 566 days, so I slightly beat the daily goal I set for myself, though I did have to resort to a lot of covers to fill in the fallow times).

I'll probably pop by here for the next little while to post the occasional reminder and update, and leave the archives here for posterity (although old posts and comments have been imported to the new site, and I'll be upgrading some of the earlier scans over time). And a tip of the hat to Blogger/BlogSpot (still the home of my other two weblogs) for a year and a half of remarkably solid performance for a free service. I highly recommend it if you want to start a weblog of your own. Also to PhotoBucket and ImageShack for image hosting.

And thanks to everyone who read, linked, e-mailed and commented, and I hope to see you all at the new digs. Update your bookmarks and links to:

http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/kirby/

The Destiny of Blog and Man Alike

2006-04-05T00:38:00.000-04:00

This might be my favourite Kirby page from Marvel in the 1960s. So much so I don't have the heart to tamper with the lettering.

That's the last one, I promise. Announcement (which some of you have figured out, in general terms at least) later today.

Hi No Tori

2006-04-04T20:31:00.000-04:00

as the Japanese say.

Hey, did I hear right, someone decided to bring Bucky back? Funny, that...

Did you ever notice...

2006-04-04T12:33:00.000-04:00

...the more pre-hyped a death in comics is, the less permanent it's likely to be?

I have.

BUCKY!!!!

2006-04-03T22:56:00.000-04:00

R.I.P. Bucky Barnes. ::sniff::

Odin hath spoketh...

2006-04-02T21:18:00.000-04:00

Epilogue

2006-04-02T12:13:00.000-04:00

In the final analysis...

2006-04-01T19:36:00.000-05:00

The Word From High Is...

2006-04-01T13:07:00.000-05:00

Not an April Fool's Day prank!

It is written that this month, a "weblog" must die!

The Black Racer is riding! Who will feel his touch?

Next Issue -- A Weblog Dies!!!

2006-03-31T21:50:00.000-05:00

Stay tuned, true believers!

Just when you thought it was safe...

2006-03-29T12:31:00.000-05:00

Strange Tales #129 - Cover

2006-03-28T23:52:00.000-05:00

Surprisingly, I really like Chic Stone's inks on the Thing on this cover. I usually think his Thing inking is the weakest part of his FF inks from this era, but on this example (and a lot of the other covers) it seems to work better. Good cover overall, not the greatest villains ever, but the layout gives even them a nice sense of menace. I also really like the sense of depth Kirby gives the layouts.

Published 1965

--Link-- Spirit World review

2006-03-27T20:58:00.000-05:00

Steve Thompson takes a look at Jack Kirby's SPIRIT WORLD, one of the two black and white (or blue and white in this case) magazines that DC released in the early 1970s.

http://booksteveslibrary.blogspot.com/2006/03/jack-kirbys-spirit-world.html

Champion Comics #9 - Cover

2006-03-27T18:17:00.000-05:00

Dated July 1940 CHAMPION COMICS #9 from Harvey features Duke O'Dowd as the Human Meteor. More importantly, it has the distinction of being the first Jack Kirby penciled cover (when it was reprinted in THE COMPLETE JACK KIRBY v1 Greg Theakston described it as "mostly penciled by Kirby") and tied with BLUE BOLT #2 from Novelty Press as his first collaboration with Joe Simon, who inked this cover.

It's a nice dynamic piece, very open and clear, you can already see hints of the later trademark S&K style of clothing folds and muscles.

Published 1940

Journey Into Mystery #92 - Cover

2006-03-26T00:04:00.000-05:00

Another Thor cover from before Kirby took over the interiors for the series full-time. I always like the way Kirby poses Loki, always very confident and sinister.

The Kirby Checklist credits this one to George Roussos, but I'm not sure about that one. I'm going to have to compare it to some other Roussos from the period.

Published 1963

Stupid question

2006-03-25T01:52:00.000-05:00

Was Fin Fang Foom coloured orange or green in the first printing of his story in STRANGE TALES #89? I know he's green on the cover, but can anyone confirm the interior?

Showcase Presents The House of Mystery #1 - The Negative Man

2006-03-24T21:06:00.000-05:00

First published in HOUSE OF MYSTERY #84 [1959], then reprinted in HOUSE OF MYSTERY #194 [1971], now the 8-page "The Negative Man" is reprinted in SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY #1, along with 538 other pages of comics from the first 21 issues of the series edited by Joe Orlando from 1968 to 1971.

In this story, two scientists build a miniature town to test their power transmission through radio waves device. A loose watch straps makes all the energy go through one of the men, creating a negative energy duplicate of him.

The negative being goes on a rampage, until the original scientist plans to sacrifice himself to destroy it. Fortunately for him, what he didn't know was the secret of the negative being which made it afraid of him.

I really like what I've read of the Kirby stories from DC in this period, and it looks really sharp in this book (except for the enlarged gutters they would put in reprints back in the early 1970s). That first panel in the scan is just really evocative and does a great job of capturing movement on a comic page.

Great book overall, too, maybe my favourite book in DC's new SHOWCASE PRESENTS line so far, thanks to the sheer variety of great artists from that era, with much better reproduction than the stories got the first time around.

Published 2006

My Own Romance #75 - Cover

2006-03-23T22:56:00.000-05:00

I think there was some rule that said Kirby had to do at least one artist/model themed romance cover for every publisher he did romance comics for. This is the one from Marvel, featuring a very leggy model making a play for the artist in the background, who seems to fill his studio with a lot of sexy women. What would Roz have thought if Kirby tried that?

Inked by Colletta.

Published 1960

Thor #253 - Cover

2006-03-22T23:28:00.000-05:00

Another of Kirby's many covers for various Marvel books in the mid-1970s, this one inked by John Verpoorten with some Romita credited as well. Ulik is a pretty cool villain from the 1960s, so it's good to see him again, epecially with those crazy eyes. And the good old "ominous shadow" layout is nice, especially with that texture on the rocky surface.

Published 1976

New Kirby - Marvel Visionaries Jack Kirby v2

2006-03-22T12:34:00.000-05:00

Shipping to comic stores this week is MARVEL VISIONARIES - JACK KIRBY v2, almost 350 pages of Kirby reprints, some never seen since their original publication. Contains selections from:

Captain America Comics #1; Marvel Mystery Comics #23; Yellow Claw #4; Strange Tales #89, 114; Two-Gun Kid #60; Love Romances #103; X-Men #9; Tales of Suspense #59; Sgt. Fury #13; Fantastic Four #57-60; Not Brand Echh #1; Thor #154-157; Devil Dinosaur #1.

My impression of the choice of contents was posted here.

--Link-- Self promotion

2006-03-21T23:32:00.000-05:00

Yeah, linking to my own other weblog, how gauche.

Inspired by comments on a recent post, I've started a little gallery of creators being credited on comic book covers prior to 1980. Of course, most of the examples I know off-hand are Kirby (Don't Ask! Just Buy It!) and S&K, but there are some other interesting ones. Let me know about the many I probably missed.

http://fourrealities.blogspot.com/2006/03/credits-on-comic-book-covers.html

Mister Miracle #17 - Murder Lodge

2006-03-21T13:39:00.000-05:00

Scott, Barda and Shilo stop by an out-of-the-way lodge while their car is being repaired, and it turns out to be filled with death-traps, trick-beds that flip you into trap doors and the like. Fortunately, while Scott and Barda are caught unawares, Shilo manages to escape the traps and use some of the training he's gotten from Scott and Barda to rescue them.

Then it gets weird as we find out the intended targets of the trap were "The Tricky Trio", mobsters who look a lot like out heroes, so Scott&Co. have to take out both the innkeeper (who makes a business of offering sanctuary to criminals on the run and then double-crossing them) and their doppelgangers before calling in the police.

A nice diversion, the series was mostly treading water for a few issues right before the end, and I thought having Scott and Barda getting taken so easily was a kind of transparent excuse to give Shilo the spotlight, but otherwise it has some good bits, in particular the weird twist with the doppelgangers.

Mike Royer inks the cover and 20-page story.

Published 1974

Marvel Two-In-One #25 - Cover

2006-03-20T22:45:00.000-05:00

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #25, 1977. Inked by Joe Sinnott. Great to see a few more Kirby Thing drawings on these TWO-IN-ONE covers. That was always one of his defining characters, and is fun to see him with all those other mostly non-Kirby characters he was teamed with.

I have to say, though, that's some awkward positioning on the rope bridge, with Fist and Ben having their legs crossing. I do like the Kirby flames, with the obligatory crackling energy bits.

Upcoming Kirby - The Artist Within

2006-03-20T09:37:00.000-05:00

Thought this would be worth at least a mention, although obviously the Kirby is only 1% of the book. He is there on the cover, though.

THE ARTIST WITHIN hardcover
by Greg Preston

The culmination of more than fifteen years of photography by renowned photographer Greg Preston, this book is a living history of the men and women who have shaped the imaginations of countless millions of people around the world through their work in the fields of animated cartoons, comic books, comic strips, and editorial cartooning. The list of artists includes such luminaries as Frank Miller, Al Hirschfeld, Joe Barbera, Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, Moebius, Walter and Louise Simonson, and many more, all in photographs exclusive and shot expressly for this book.

Publication Date: Jul 12, 2006
Format: Hard cover, 216 pages, b&w, 100 photographs, 100 illustrations, 12 1/2" x 11 1/2"
Price: $39.95
ISBN: 1-59307-561-8

Upcoming Kirby - Galactic Bounty Hunters

2006-03-19T09:13:00.000-05:00

The long-planned Lisa Kirby / Mike Thibodeaux GALACTIC BOUNTY HUNTERS project, with some characters created by Jack Kirby (including Captain Victory), finally has a publishing home announced, some start-up in New York called Marvel, and should be out as a six-issue series starting this summer. Don't know how much actual Jack Kirby art there'll be in it.

--Link-- New S&K Blog

2006-03-18T16:07:00.000-05:00

Long time readers know that one of the biggest gaps in this weblog is my lack of access to the bulk of the Simon&Kirby material, in particular from the post-war period to when the team split in the mid-1950s. Harry Mendryk solves that problem by giving me a new Simon & Kirby blog to point you to, where you'll learn a lot about their work together, as well as the many other fine artists who worked for the busy S&K studio, plus work from other time periods. Harry's got access to some amazing first hand research material, and the first few posts already have a lot on editing in the S&K books and the scripting technique than can be seen on some early 1960s Marvel art.

So give it a read, bookmark it and spread the word.

http://simonandkirby.blogspot.com/

Fantastic Four #97 - The Monster From the Lost Lagoon

2006-03-18T12:10:00.000-05:00

Even on vacation, the FF can't avoid challenging the unknown, this time Reed is asked by the navy to investigate some ship sinkings and sea monster sightings. The boys finally end up in an underground tunnel with an amphibious creature, who it turns out is a crashed alien, unable to communicate with them and trying to save his mate. So we learn a lesson about the importance of communication. I have to say, though, Reed is a little unfair to Ben, saying he attacked the alien without provocation, when in fact the alien had sunk ships, almost crushed Reed's arm and almost drowned the three of them. Anyway, the alien leaves, never to be seen again (until Roy Thomas brought him back as part of a sprawling cosmic storyline, then later Mark Gruenwald set a story among his race, Tom DeFalco complicated it all in a story that made no sense and Mark Waid took him back to the basics. Okay, none of that actually happened...).

Still a nice tale with a lot of good character bits (Johnny pining for Crystal and playing with Franklin, Ben saving the others) among a string of single issue stories.

Frank Giacoia inks the 20-page story and the cover.

Published 1970

Invaders #16 - Cover

2006-03-17T10:45:00.000-05:00

INVADERS, THE #16, 1977. Inked by Joe Sinnott. Hm, Master Man. There's a Roy Thomas villain for you. I like the Kirby rocks and castle in the background there.

Thor #255 - Cover

2006-03-16T22:45:00.000-05:00

THOR #255, 1977. Inked by John Verpoorten, with some re-drawing from the Bullpen. Because what, Kirby's Thor doesn't look like Thor? Weird. Nice to see the Warriors Three. And of course the original Thor foes, the Stone Men from Saturn.

New Kirby - Kirby Collector, Gi/Ant-Man

2006-03-16T16:57:00.000-05:00

Now available, THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #45, 80 big pages about the past and future.

Apparently also out now is the Ant-Man/Giant-Man volume of MARVEL MASTERWORKS, containing every full story Kirby did for the character, as well as most of his covers. Some of this is reprinted in colour for the first time ever.

--Link-- Kirby Museum update

2006-03-15T16:11:00.000-05:00

A few updates on the Kirby Museum website, including a short video of Kirby's cameo on the 1970s Hulk TV show and the start of their Original Art Digital Archive. Pass the word on the latter to anyone you know who owns any Kirby original art.

Daredevil #5 - Cover

2006-03-15T08:31:00.000-05:00

DAREDEVIL #5, 1964. Wally Wood took over (and slightly redesigned, before the big redesign) DD with this issue, and inked Jack Kirby's cover. The Matador looks cool, although like a lot of DD villains he seems to be a result of trying too hard to create a memorable villain like Spidey and the FF had.

Upcoming Kirby - Marvel in June 2006

2006-03-14T17:37:00.000-05:00

Crazy month for Marvel on Kirby reprints, with lots of early 1960s westerns in various formats (presumably lots of overlap), the last ESSENTIAL FF and a rather expensive complete ETERNALS hardcover. And that CHAMPIONS collection should have a single Kirby cover, for a more trivial entry.

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: RAWHIDE KID VOL. 1
Written by STAN LEE
Penciled by JACK KIRBY, DON HECK, DICK AYERS & PAUL REINMAN
Cover by JACK KIRBY
Saddle up, buckaroos! It's time for the Marvel Masterworks to tame the wild, wild West with the one and only Rawhide Kid! Back before Stan "The Man" and "King" Kirby spun stories of sensational super heroes, they told the tale of a young man who bore two Colt six-shooters and his mission to bring law to the American frontier. After his Uncle Ben Bart was killed at the hands of outlaws, Johnny Bart made it his personal mission to bring justice to the town of Rawhide.
Packed full of shootouts and showdowns, renegades and rustlers, guns and girls galore, these Western yarns will be sure to please you in the Mighty Marvel Manner! We guarantee you won't be able to hold on to your ten-gallon hat when you read the tale of the Terrible Totem, the Kid's battle against the bank robbing Bat, and the war with Wolf Waco! Lasso your copy today, True Believer!
Collecting RAWHIDE KID #17-25.
248 PGS $49.99
ISBN: 0-7851-2117-X

ESSENTIAL FANTASTIC FOUR VOL. 5 TPB
Written by STAN LEE
Penciled by JACK KIRBY, JOHN ROMITA, JOHN BUSCEMA
Cover by JACK KIRBY
Lee and Kirby spin the classics with characters and concepts that remain among Marvel's mainstays today! After being lorded over in Latveria by Doctor Doom, the FF face a new level of grudge match when the Thing is tapped for the fighting arena of gangster Skrulls! Featuring the enigmatic Inhumans, the Frightful Four, the Mad Thinker and other enduring opponents! Guest-starring Magneto and the Sub-Mariner! Plus: classic invasions from under the earth and under the sea!
Collects FANTASTIC FOUR #84-110 and ANNUAL #7-8.
568 PGS $16.99
ISBN: 0-7851-2162-5

ETERNALS BY JACK KIRBY HC
Written by JACK KIRBY
Penciled by JACK KIRBY
Cover by JACK KIRBY
"The Gods Are Coming Back!" Jack Kirby reveals a secret history of heroes and horrors as humanity's cousins, the Eternals and the Deviants, vie to inherit the Earth! It's a time of Titans, Terror and Time Travel - as only the King could conceive! Guest-starring the Incredible Hulk (or at least an unreasoning facsimile thereof)! Collects ETERNALS #1-19 and ANNUAL #1.
392 PGS. $75.00
ISBN: 0-7851-2205-2
Trim Size: Oversize

MARVEL MILESTONES: RAWHIDE KID & TWO-GUN KID
Written by STAN LEE
Penciled by JACK KIRBY & DON HECK
Cover by JACK KIRBY
Is the Rawhide Kid really a cold-blooded killer? Why do they fear his guns from Abiline to Tombstone? See how the Kid became an "outlaw" in RAWHIDE KID #17 (August 1960). Plus: What is the strange secret of Matt Hawk? Find out in TWO-GUN KID #60 (November 1962).
48 PGS. $3.99

MARVEL WESTERNS: THE TWO-GUN KID
Written by DAN SLOTT
Penciled by EDUARDO BARRETO
Cover by ERIC POWELL
"TOOTH & CLAW"
A modern day adventure with SHE-HULK reminds the TWO-GUN KID of one of his most fraught-filled yarns of yesteryear! So saddle up, pards, and ride with the Wild West Avenger as he sets his sights on some rustlers, but finds himself face-to-fang with critters that are neither man nor beast! It's a timeless twin-barreled tale a' terror comin' your way courtesy a' Dan Slott and Eduardo Barreto! Plus! A classic Kirby RAWHIDE KID tale!
48 PGS. $3.99

CHAMPIONS CLASSIC VOL. 1 TPB
Written by TONY ISABELLA, BILL MANTLO & CHRIS CLAREMONT
Penciled by DON HECK, GEORGE TUSKA, VINCE COLLETTA, BOB HALL & JOHN BYRNE
Cover by GIL KANE
Okay, a god, a demon, a spy and two mutants walk into... resulting in some of the strangest scenarios of the '70s! It's gods vs. heroes in the City of Angels! With mad scientists, Russian super-spies, and guest-stars from Marvel's western and horror eras! Plus: the secrets of the Black Widow! Featuring Hawkeye! Collects CHAMPIONS #1-11.
208 PGS. $19.99
ISBN: 0-7851-2097-1

Tales to Astonish #64 - Cover

2006-03-14T16:31:00.000-05:00

TALES TO ASTONISH #64, 1965. Dick Ayers inks on this one. I'm not a big fan of the split-cover design in general, so I'm not surprised that it only lasted for a year on ASTONISH and SUSPENSE before going to alternating leads. This is one of the more effective ones, the Giant-Man half in particular is a nice bit of Kirby foreshortening, and I always like Attuma.

Avengers #22 - Cover

2006-03-13T22:31:00.000-05:00

AVENGERS #22, 1965. A nice Wally Wood inked cover, from when Wood was briefly the interior inker on the book over Don Heck pencils. Great image of the Enchantress there. Not a lot of major female villains from Marvel in the 1960s, but she's probably the best of them.

Police Trap #4 - Cover

2006-03-12T15:51:00.000-05:00

POLICE TRAP #4, 1955. Boy, that looks dangerous position for a cop to find himself in, doesn't it? One of the books of S&K's Mainline company. I always wondered why they didn't add that "Another Simon/Kirby Smash Hit" stamp until several issues in. Also, that giant comics code stamp blocking the logo sure is an eyesore.

True Bride-To-Be Romances #17 - Cover

2006-03-12T00:37:00.000-05:00

TRUE BRIDE-TO-BE ROMANCE #17, 1956. A Harvey romance comic. That guy in the backgound looks like he's going to cause some trouble. Not one of my favourites among the Harvey covers Kirby did, a lot of them seem a bit dull and pretty much by-the-book, though a few work well.

Black Magic #9[v2n3] - Cover

2006-03-10T19:51:00.000-05:00

There's an untrustworthy guy if I ever saw one. A nice dramatic cover to contrast with the more explicit horror that's more common on these BLACK MAGIC covers, and a good showcase for the inking on the S&K covers. A bit heavy on the text, though.

Published 1952

Captain America #203 - Alamo II

2006-03-09T23:09:00.000-05:00

Cap's search for the missing Falcon and Leila brings him and Texas Jack Muldoon to an asylum transported to another dimension, where he finds his friends without their memories and the small human colony on an asteroid under attack from alien monsters. Brother Wonderful and the Inquisitor, leaders of the Night People, open up a portal to Earth, planning to send the monsters there, but Cap is able to trick them and return the humans to Earth and blow up the asteroid as the creatures approach.

A minor story during Kirby's final run on Cap, but the art is really pretty, including the alien creatures who look like something out of a 1950s monster masterwork.

Frank Giacoia inks the 17-page story and cover.

Published 1976

This whole story, and much more, was recently reprinted in Captain America: Bicentennial Battles.

Upcoming Kirby - Check it out

2006-03-08T19:42:00.000-05:00

The things that come up when you look up Kirby on Amazon...

I'll post a link to the TwoMorrows site when they have something on that book.

Also, not yet mentioned here, Marvel has ESSENTIAL FF #5, finishing Kirby's run and beyond, the complete ETERNALS (#1-#19 and Annual) in a $75 book, and a second volume completing Kirby's BLACK PANTHER (plus the post-Kirby issue wrapping up the Kiber story) in the coming months.

Champions #6 - Cover

2006-03-08T16:33:00.000-05:00

Kirby's only cover for the short lived super-team, it's always nice to see another one of those overhead cityscapes by Kirby, as well as a nice drawing of Hercules, plus a very 1970s villain. Inked by Frank Giacoia.

Published 1976

Two-Gun Kid #65 - Cover

2006-03-06T23:14:00.000-05:00

This is one of my favourite TWO-GUN KID covers, with a nice feeling of power and menace in the villain and some nice detail over in the fort. Dick Ayers inks this one.

Published 1963

Thor #175 - The Fall of Asgard

2006-03-04T17:11:00.000-05:00

Thor is on Earth, tending to business like rounding up hijackers, while the Warriors Three and Balder are leaving the realm of the Norn Queen. Odin picks this time to go into the Odinsleep that he needs to retain his Odinpowers for another Odincycle, leaving the Odinrealm open for attack by the evil Odinson Loki, who gathers various Odinfoes like the storm giants.

The page after this, a full page of the giants on the rampage, is gorgeous, by the way. Check it out if you have this issue.

Sif is able to contact Thor on Earth and get him to return to Asgard, and he and the various defenders of the realm battle the invaders, but not before Loki is able to get the Ring Imperial from the Allfather and take Sif prisoner, making him Thor and the other bow before him.

Bill Everett inks the 20-page story, the last of his brief run (with some possible assistance from John Verpoorten, see comments). It's kind of uneven compared to his others, although still better than most Thor inking. Some pages are great, but a few others seems stiff, maybe a bit rushed.

The cover is by Marie Severin, replacing the one Kirby did. The likely reason for the replacement is the the Kirby version (shown in TJKC #18) has Thor bowing before Loki, defeated, while the published version has him still defiant, so I guess someone decided the hero should look more heroic on the cover. Both versions do seem to use the same background of Asgard, though, and Severin does do a good Kirby (in fact, the original art boards to both versions shown in TJKC are signed by Kirby).

Published 1970

Super Powers v2 #1 - Seeds of Doom

2006-03-01T22:36:00.000-05:00

A year after the previous series, Kirby returns to the toy line inspired SUPER POWERS, which I think by this time was also part of the Super Friends cartoon, which I guess explains the Hall of Justice super-hero HQ in this issue. Anyway, Kirby doesn't write this series, just pencils. We open just after the events of "The Hunger Dogs", with Darkseid's rule overturned.

He's able to find some of his most loyal servants, DeSaad, Kalibak and Steppenwolf (actually just "animated bodies" of them that he brought back to life) and escape to the moon, where they plan the conquest of Earth, which is where our various action figures, um, I mean, heroes, come in, splitting into teams to investigate five mystrious seeds which have appeared through the world, which seem to be digging to the Earth's core. J'onn J'onzz goes to England where he meets up with Aquaman to investigate one of the seeds. While there, they encounter DeSaad, and all of them are hurled back in time where they meet King Arthur.

Kind of a dull story, although the art does have a few points of interest, mostly a few of the scenes with Darkseid in the first half.

Greg Theakston inks the cover and 23-page story.

Published 1985

OMAC #3 - A Hundred Thousand Foes

2006-03-01T12:46:00.000-05:00

The issue opens with OMAC enjoying some virtual reality entertainment, battling a monster protecting the secrets of the giant talking skulls. He's pulled out of the "movie" to get his official credentials to act as a One Man Army on behalf of the faceless Global Peace Agents, but before he goes on his first official mission he's introduced to a couple applying to act as his parents, OMAC having forgotten his life as Buddy Blank. I'm always unclear on how creepy Kirby meant this stuff to be.

OMAC is then sent on his mission to take down Marshal Kafka, a tyrant who has put together his own army of a hundred thousand. His jet is shot at on the way down, leaving him fighting from his chair until that's shot out from under him. He quickly gets through the Kafka's forces until he finally reaches the Marshal.

Like I said, a bit of a creepy beginning, followed by a quick high-action story. Kirby was throwing out the ideas fast in this series, a lot of which are never returned to.

D. Bruce Berry inks the cover and 20-page story.

Published 1975

Daring Mystery Comics #8 - Cover

2006-02-27T17:12:00.000-05:00

DARING MYSTERY COMICS #8, 1942. You gotta feel for Blue Diamond. Right there on the cover, but grouped in with "and others" in the blurb, which names the other guys, and even the gal in the inset.

Anyway, a book of the also-rans of the early Marvel line, the highlight of most of these guys careers has to be having Jack Kirby draw them on a cover just before he left Marvel the first time.

Champ Comics #18 - Cover

2006-02-26T17:12:00.000-05:00

CHAMP COMICS #18, 1941. Another wartime cover for Harvey, this one signed with the "Jon Henri" pen-name. Don't try to think too much about how exactly the Liberty Lads got the jump on those Japanese pilots in mid-flight, much less how the Japanese pilots could attack Washington DC.

Marvel Super Action #3 - The Sleeper Strikes

2006-02-25T13:49:00.000-05:00

This issue has an edited reprint of CAPTAIN AMERICA #102 (1968). One change made is right on the splash page, where a reference to the Lovin' Spoonful is changed to Blue Oyster Cult. How hip. Anyway, Cap still has the control key for the Fourth Sleeper from last issue, but doesn't know how to use it. He battles with the Red Skull's agents, and is rescued by Agent 13, and they go out in pursuit of the Sleeper. Lots of good fighting throughout, although the end is a bit abrupt. One of the two pages edited is just a splash of the destruction when the Sleeper attacks, but another is kind of crucial to the climax of the story, so was a pretty bad cut.

Syd Shores inks the cover and edited-to-18-page story. There's also some of the usual meddling on the cover, moving figures slightly. I'm still not a huge fan of Shores' inks on Kirby during this time, and the linework of his that got lost the first time around suffers even more in the reprints.

Published 1977

World Around Us #31

2006-02-24T13:34:00.000-05:00

Among Kirby's work for Gilberton published in 1961, in addition to his one full issue of CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED, were a few short bits in five issues of THE WORLD AROUND US. This issue's theme was Hunting, and Kirby contributed 12 pages, inked by Dick Ayers.

The Kirby starts on the title page, an image of some hunters getting ready to take down a bear with spears and arrows. The archer's pose in the foreground is especially nice.

Later in the issue is the 6-page "Early Hunters" chapter, which has a quick summary of a few thousand years of mankind, starting with hunting with clubs and wandering from place to place as hunter/gatherers, and then developing more complex weapons and hunting techniques. Then follows the discovery of farming, allowing for permanent villages, and domesticating animals.

Following some non-Kirby stuff is the 5-page "An End to Slaughter", which starts with the story of Theodore Roosevelt, starting with a quick look at his buffalo hunting as a youth, bear hunting as President and his post-presidency African safari. The story then goes to Roosevelt's role in expanding the National Park system in the US and inspiring similar efforts around the world, and a look at protected lands in other countries and the importance of following hunting laws, getting proper licenses and all the rest.

This isn't a bad sample of Kirby's art, although clearly doing short vignettes, single panels on a theme, doesn't really play to his story-telling strengths. There are also a few bits every now and then in the art that just feel off, which are likely panels or parts of panels that the Gilberton folks had redrawn, either by Kirby or by another artist to meet their standards of accuracy. A few of the animals seem to suffer from this on Kirby's pages.

This issue also includes a lot of art by Sam Glanzman and a few pages by Pete Morisi, so is worth checking out for more than the Kirby.

Published 1961

Star Spangled Comics #40 - Cover

2006-02-22T17:12:00.000-05:00

STAR SPANGLED COMICS #40, 1945. Boy, is that a complicated flying machine for robbing a bank. If it actually works, you could sell the patent for more than a bank robbery would haul in, and not get beat up by a bunch of kids and a moonlighting cop.

2001 - A Space Odyssey #5 - Norton of New York 2040 AD

2006-02-21T13:54:00.000-05:00

This issue starts what is my favourite of Kirby's SPACE ODYSSEY series, with a tale of the near future. First we start with Harvey Norton, who participates in some live action super-hero roleplaying as White Zero in Comicsville. In the middle of the game he encounters the Monolith, which awakens a sense of wonder in him that makes the unreality of the game stand out in sharp contrast.

Later he's at an artificial beach, opening his eyes to the fact that the whole world he lives in is just as fake as the game. "It's a comfortable Hades -- and not without beauty -- but is it enough for Harvey Norton?" is what he's driven to ask, and the answer is clearly no, as the Monolith appears again and pushes his curiosity in the direction of space, so that two years later Norton is in orbit around Neptune when an alien ship is detected, and they encounter a strange beautiful alien woman. Soon after they see her, their ship is confronted by a giant alien ship.

Wonderful story progression, echoing the original movie without mimicking any of the story beats, and a lot of thought clearly went into the "comfortable Hades" of the future that Norton was eventually driven to escape.

Mike Royer inks the cover and 17-page story.

Published 1977 AD

Boy Commandos #13 - Cover

2006-02-21T08:21:00.000-05:00

BOY COMMANDOS #13 - 1945. Nothing like some patriotic propaganda late in the war, actually the final war-themed cover for the series. Of course, the boys would be coming home for stateside adventures soon, and had already lost one member for this cover.

Marvel Milestone Edition: X-Men #1 - X-Men

2006-02-19T07:56:00.000-05:00

Another of Marvel's series of cover-to-cover reprints, this one of course the debut of the X-Men and their main villain, Magneto. It's a pretty compact first issue, with the characters first showing off their powers in a practice session, then introducing themselves to their newest member, Jean Grey. Soon after the first mutant menace that Professor X gathered them to defend mankind against makes his presence known.

I always liked Magneto, I thought Kirby hit the ground running with him and Professor X, while the actual X-Men I thought took a few issues to get both their characters and body language right. Anyway, they manage to drive off Magneto, winning the admiration of the army. That wouldn't last...

Paul Reinman inks the 23-page story, and Sol Brodsky is usually credited with the inks on the cover, though that's hardly a consensus. This issue also includes two house-ads, one for a Spider-Man issue and one for SGT. FURY #3, interesting in that it promotes the book as having "the same inimitable style, by the same writer and artist" as the FF, without actually naming the writer or artist.

Published 1991

New Kirby - Fury Masterworks

2006-02-18T20:01:00.000-05:00

The SGT. FURY MASTERWORKS hardcover, including all of Kirby's full stories for the book (he did covers and a few interior pages in later issues) is out now. Have to say, I don't usually pick up Masterworks books, but I'm tempted by this one (if I didn't just pick up the TALES TO ASTONISH book I'd probably get it right away). If there isn't an ESSENTIAL FURY in the next year I'll probably get it.

Much more obscure, ESSENTIAL MOON KNIGHT should have a single Kirby cover among its 500+ pages. Might be worth picking up otherwise, if you like that kind of thing.

Silver Star #6 - The Angel of Death

2006-02-18T14:25:00.000-05:00

Kirby concludes the series in this issue, where Darius Drumm first destroys his own world and his followers, and then flies off in his demonic form to scour the Earth.

Brute force on the part of both Silver Star and the army fail to stop Drumm, but Silver Star is ultimately able to use a psychological attack.

This is a really mixed issue, with a few really good scenes but ultimately the climax is just too short, and falls right at the end so we never get to find out what happens next. The art is also kind of variable, it's almost hard to believe that Kirby drew it all around the same time, with some strong bits and other parts having all the flaws associated with Kirby's later work.

D. Bruce Berry inks the 20-page story and Mike Thibodeaux inks the cover.

Published 1984

Remember, this and more will be reprinted in the upcoming SILVER STAR GRAPHITE EDITION from TwoMorrows, with part of the proceeds going to the Kirby Museum.

Eternals #13 - Astronauts

2006-02-17T07:04:00.000-05:00

Tode, leader of the Deviants, has decided that that big Celestial mothership out in orbit has to go, and sends up a giant bomb ship on a suicide mission. Meanwhile, NASA is also curious and sends up a shuttle to take photos of the ship. Meanwhile, the rest of the Eternals are busy in the Uni-Mind ritual, so Sprite is left to detect the danger and decides to enlist the help of the Forgotten One, a nameless Eternal exiled by Zuras for his pride and meddling in human affairs (and implied to be the source of various hero myths, I think he was made to be explicitly the source of the Gilgamesh story in later non-Kirby stories).

Sprite creates a space-suit and ship for the Forgotten One and then the representatives of the three races of Earth converge on the ship of the One Above All, who acts quickly and efficiently by switching the crews of the three ships, letting them each fulfill their missions after a fashion.

I think these side-stories in this series are often better than the main action with Ikaris and the others. Kirby clearly had a vast mythology that he only started to explore, and this issue has a nice sense of wonder and discovery.

Mike Royer inks the cover and 17-page story.

Published 1977

Marvel's Greatest Comics #50 - When Opens the Cocoon

2006-02-16T19:17:00.000-05:00

This issue reprints FANTASTIC FOUR #67 (1967), the second half of the storyline that introduces Him. It was mentioned in the KIRBY COLLECTOR a while back that this was a bit of a turning point on Kirby's silver age run at Marvel, as his concept for this story was turned on its head when the first half was scripted, and after this point he created very few memorable new characters for Marvel in the next three years (while of course doing the concept art that would form the basis of the Fourth World).

Despite being a bit of a mid-course correction it's still an entertaining story, as the FF work on how to follow the mysterious scientists who have kidnapped Alicia in order to use her blindness and artistic ability to study the mysterious creation in the "cocoon".

That's a great four-panel zoom on Alicia there. And of course Reed with his "working hard" beard growth.

Reed's able to duplicate the wristband of the scientists (interestingly using technology that is pretty clearly nanotechnology, I believe several years before the expression existed) and the boys journey to the Citadel of Science and manage to rescue Alicia just as the cocoon opens and a golden figure who departs from a world not ready for him, destroying the Citadel in the process.

Joe Sinnott inks the cover and 20-page story.

Published 1974

Upcoming Kirby - Marvel in May 2006

2006-02-15T12:23:00.000-05:00

Big item this month is the tenth FF volume of MARVEL MASTERWORKS, including the last issues of Kirby's continuous run, with a few post-Kirby issues and some other special stuff included. Also, far more minor, the second ESSENTIAL volume of the original X-Men series has a handful of covers that Kirby did the pencils or layouts for.

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE FANTASTIC FOUR VOL. 10
Written by STAN LEE
Penciled by JACK KIRBY & JOHN ROMITA
Cover by JACK KIRBY
Certifiably the World's Greatest Comic Collaboration, the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby Fantastic Four run stands as one of the high-water marks in the history of the medium. The ten titanic years on the title laid the very foundation of the Marvel Universe, and birthed more amazing concepts and creative characters than perhaps any series before or since. In this tenth Masterworks volume, we celebrate the entire Lee/Kirby run with essays by critics, creators and luminaries in the field of comics.
But it just ain't waxing nostalgic, True Believer! This is a Marvel comic, after all! Expect plenty of explosive action and family drama a-go-go as the FF build up to their 100th issue featuring everyone from Doc Doom to Dragon Man! They'll also help mankind take one giant leap when the Kree's robot Sentry tries to stop the Apollo 11 moon landing! Just for good measure, we'll throw in the uncanny Inhumans and Attilan, and the whole shebang comes to a head when the mutant menace, Magneto, teams up with Namor in a bid to conquer the world and Nixon is not pleased!
Collecting FANTASTIC FOUR #94-104.
272 PGS./All Ages ...$49.99
ISBN: 0-7851-2061-0

ESSENTIAL CLASSIC X-MEN VOL. 2
Written by ROY THOMAS, GARY FRIEDRICH & ARNOLD DRAKE
Penciled by WERNER ROTH, JACK SPARLING, DAN ADKINS, ROSS ANDRU, DON HECK, GEORGE TUSKA, JIM STERANKO, BARRY SMITH
& JOHN BUSCEMA
Cover by GIL KANE
Enemies both infamous and obscure abound in another archive of the X-Men's early adventures! Mainstay malefactors like Magneto and the Juggernaut are joined by the thunderous threat of Factor Three! Plus: the first appearances of Banshee and Polaris! Mimic vs. the Super-Adaptoid! Subterranean civil war! The X-Men's first individualistic uniforms! The return of a Golden Age great...and the death of Professor X!? Guest-starring Spider-Man, Doctor Strange and the Avengers! Featuring Ogre of Thunderbolts fame! Collects X-MEN #25-53 and AVENGERS #53.
632 PGS./All Ages ...$16.99
ISBN: 0-7851-2116-1

The Original Young Romance Group

2006-02-14T11:49:00.000-05:00

A few of the non-photo covers from the early S&K romance books at Prize, YOUNG ROMANCE #2, #5, #7 and YOUNG LOVE #13, #17 and #21.

Romance comics posts

2006-02-13T14:43:00.000-05:00

A sampling of previous posts on Kirby's romance comics work, first issues which have interior stories:

Millennium Edition - Young Romance 1 [2000]
Our Love Story #12 [1971]
Young Love #50[v5n8] [1953]
Young Romance #20[v3n8] [1950]
Young Romance #87[v10n3] [1957]

And a few more with just covers:

First Love Illustrated #67 [1956] [C]
First Love Illustrated #68 [1956] [C]
First Romance Magazine #42 [1956] [C]
Hi-School Romance #54 [1956] [C]
Hi-School Romance #58 [1956] [C]
In Love #5 [1955] [C]
Love Romances #83 [1959] [C]
Love Romances #84 [1959] [C]
Love Romances #91 [1961] [C]
My Own Romance #71 [1959] [C]
True Bride-To-Be Romances #19 [1956] [C]
True Bride-To-Be Romances #20 [1956] [C]

Black Panther #11 - Kiber the Cruel

2006-02-12T16:52:00.000-05:00

Kirby begins another story in this issue, although one he wouldn't be around to finish. T'Challa has been having dreams of an impending menace, as he seems to have new ESP powers following his exposure to the vibranium mound the previous issue, from which he's still recovering.

Another of the royal family, Khanata, is captured by the mysterious Kiber, forcing T'Challa to go against medical advice and again don the costume of the Panther to rescue him.

This last bit of the Panther's saga at Kirby's hand isn't my favourite, mostly because I know we never got Kirby's ending to it. Kirby does still show a lot of enthusiasm in parts, though, so the art is nice.

Mike Royer inks the 17-page story and Joe Sinnott inks the cover.

Published 1978

Kamandi #4 - The Devil's Arena

2006-02-11T16:40:00.000-05:00

Kamandi and company stock up on supplies in the ruins of Las Vegas this issue, where among other things Kamandi finds a copy of THE DEMON #1. Before they can leave they find themselves in the middle of a war between the gorillas and the tigers, and Kamandi is taken prisoner by the gorillas. Thrown in with some of those less intelligent humans, Kamandi leads them in an escape and then finds his way to the cell of a tiger prisoner, Prince Tuftan.

Kamandi finds out that Tuftan allowed himself to be taken prisoner so he could be on the inside during a full tiger attack and steal an ancient human warplane that would make the tigers dominant his father Caesar's quest for world domination. Kamandi realizes that such an act would doom what's left of humanity and destroys the plane in order to ensure mankind gets a second chance.

A nice action-packed look at some of the battles going on in Kirby's post-disaster Earth, I especially liked Kamandi leading the escape from the gorillas. Tuftan is also a lot of fun, it's a shame he was never more than a semi-regular in the series, vanishing for long stretches.

Mike Royer inks the cover and 22-page story.

Published 1973

This issue is available in the recent KAMANDI ARCHIVES v1

Foxhole #4 - Cover

2006-02-11T15:21:00.000-05:00

FOXHOLE #4. The war title in S&K's Mainline universe had a lot of intense covers like this one. I feel like I should make an Apokolips Now joke every time I see it, though. That's some really nice colouring, too.

Published 1955

Marvel Tales #124 - ...And Finally: Black Bolt

2006-02-10T22:08:00.000-05:00

Reprints of the Inhumans backup get to the tale of Black Bolt in this story from THOR #148 (1968). First it's established that he's a beloved ruler who keeps his people safe. Then we look back in time on the Historikon and find out that when he was an infant his ability to manipulate energy and matter was even greater than it is now, but he had a scream outside the sonic range that brings the house down.

Of course his own powers protect him, but obviously something is going to have to be done to protect everyone else from him.

I always thought the ideas behind the origin of Black Bolt were intriguing, but we really didn't get more than a hint of them in these little 5-page snippits. A shame, as he's a great character.

Joe Sinnott inks the 5-page story.

Published 1981

Sgt. Fury #25 - Cover

2006-02-10T20:22:00.000-05:00

SGT. FURY #25. Last cover Kirby did for the book, though by this time he was drawing an older Nick over in STRANGE TALES. Nicely ominous layout with the shadows. The inker for this is uncertain, regular commenter Nick suggests John Tartaglione as a possibility in the GCD entry.

Published 1965

New Kirby - House of Mystery / Marvel Monsters

2006-02-10T12:40:00.000-05:00

Two new Kirby reprints apparently out this week.

One Kirby reprint of a reprint should be in SHOWCASE PRESENTS: HOUSE OF MYSTERY VOL. 1, "The Negative Man" from HoM #84 in 1959, as reprinted in HoM #194. Lots of other good black and white stuff from the first two years of the Joe Orlando edited book.

Can anyone confirm that the MARVEL MONSTERS hardcover reprints the same four monster stories that were in the one-shots published last October?

Forever People #2 - Super War

2006-02-09T20:03:00.000-05:00

That Big Bear just cracks me up sometimes.

Anyway, as their second issue opens, the Forever People find themselves attracting attention as the Super-Cycle is blocking traffic. They phase-out to another area where they meet a young boy and his uncle, who Beautiful Dreamer pacifies by making them seem like clean-cut kids, and set up with them for a while. However, an attack from Apokolips in the form of the power vampire Mantis, who Darkseid hopes will generate enough fear to bring out the Anti-Life Equation (and thus introducing the very creepy DeSaad), forces the kids to bring in the Infinity Man to defeat Mantis.

It's a good story, although once the Infinity Man stuff starts it's like a whole different thing, and you want to see more of the Forever People and their story, so I guess it's not surprising that Kirby wrote him out after a few issues.

Colletta inks the 22-page story and the cover, which has a photo collage background.

Published 1971

Challengers of the Unknown #80 - The Day the Earth Blew Up

2006-02-08T17:47:00.000-05:00

This issue concludes the brief 3-issue run CotU had as a reprint book in 1973 with the story from SHOWCASE #11 (1957), though re-coloured to feature the groups later red and yellow jumpsuits instead of the classic purple. The aliens were also changed from orange to green.

In this story the Challs are sent down to find some missing scientists in Antarctica. While there they find the scientists in the clutches of an alien invasion force, the Tyrans, who plan some major explosions to reduce the gravity of the planet more to their liking, as well as destroy human civilization making us ripe for conquest. Some great artwork in the underground alien lair, and later on there's a great huge alien machine which comes out of the ocean.

Bruno Premiani, best known as the co-creator of the Doom Patrol and his long stint on Tomahawk, inks the 24-page story. This might be his only time inking Kirby, unless he did some while working for S&K at Crestwood (the Kirby Checklist lists him on SHOWCASE #12 as well, but it looks quite different and I think DC's recent George Klein credit seems more likely). I really like his work on this, reminding me a lot of the texture that Wally Wood brought to later stories but not nearly as overwhelming. This might be my favourite inking in a Challengers story, which had a lot of good inking. It's also interesting that this seems to be Premiani's only DC credit in a several year period when he apparently wasn't even living in the United States. Was this done well before it was published? Or was it just a job Premiani picked up while visiting from Argentina?

Published 1973

This story is available in CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN ARCHIVES v1.

Admin - Welcome to newcomers

2006-02-07T19:41:00.000-05:00

Gotten a lot of new hits today (already four times my previous high) thanks to a link on Boingboing, by way of Irregular Orbit, via Video Watchblog, who found the place from Bubblegumfink's sidebar (it was pretty funny tracing that back, was wondering how many steps it would take). Welcome all, hope you enjoy looking around, check the links on the sidebar for previous posts, Kirby work in print (in particular check out the Jack Kirby Collector) and be sure to visit the Jack Kirby Museum and Research Center.

In Love #5 - Cover

2006-02-07T17:21:00.000-05:00

IN LOVE #5, 1955, published by Charlton. One of the titles taken over from Mainline and featuring left-over work from the ill-fated Simon&Kirby publishing venture, with just a cover with S&K art on this one. It's kind of interesting that this is promising 10 complete (presumably very short) stories, since the tagline for the Mainline IN LOVE was "Book Length Love Novel", with the covers made out to look like prose romance novels. I wonder if there was a long story meant for this cover (whether by S&K or not) that was unused or appeared in another Charlton book.

(by the way, if anyone has the Mainline IN LOVE #4, it's among the few Kirby-cover-only books that I still need a scan of, so it would be appreciated)

Amazing Adventures #1 - The Inhumans

2006-02-06T18:39:00.000-05:00

Hm, the Inhumans and the Black Widow "In one mag together - Because You Demanded It"? I wonder how many letters they got actually demanding a split-book with those characters?

Anyway, after years of saying it was coming, the Inhumans finally got their own feature, written and drawn by Kirby, just before he left the company. In this issue, after a brief intro with the FF reviewing some film of the Inhumans, we see the royal family repel an attempt by some soldiers trying to find the Great Refuge, and then seeing their home attacked by a pair of missiles, sent by the exiled Maximus but designed to look like it came from the FF, sending those oh-so-paranoid Inhumans on the attack.

Not a bad start, although this brief run did get a bit weaker through the run, as I'm sure Kirby was ready to work on the next thing by this time.

Chic Stone inks the 10-page story, which is a bit better than his work on the later two issues of this four issue run, but still not close to his early 1960s run inking Kirby. The cover is split for the two features, with Kirby just doing the Inhumans half, inked by Frank Giacoia.

Published 1970

12 years ago today...

2006-02-06T13:43:00.000-05:00

12 years ago today, Jack Kirby passed away at age 76.

Kirby video on WWII experience at the Kirby Museum.

Kirby videos at TVparty.

Daredevil #43 - Cover

2006-02-06T12:21:00.000-05:00

DAREDEVIL #43, 1968, inked by Joe Sinnott. I guess the Captain America guest appearance was the impetus for bringing Kirby back on DD covers for one issue several years in. Whatever the reason, that's a great action pose for the two characters. You can see why Kirby was so often employed to do covers for books he didn't draw interiors for.

Regular DD artist of the time Gene Colan did an unused cover to this issue, with DD more prominant than Cap (and giving Cap a whupping). You can see a version of it here. So presumably the Kirby version was commissioned either to give Cap a larger place or not having him as the underdog.

Spidey Super Stories #20 - Cover

2006-02-05T14:21:00.000-05:00

SPIDEY SUPER STORIES #20, 1976, inked by John Romita. Kirby got tapped for two issues of this surprisingly long running book that spun off from the Electric Company TV show's Spidey segments. Both featured FF related characters (the other had the Surfer and Doom). Romita's inks are, as usual, pull the work a bit heavier towards his own style, but still a pretty attractive cover.

New Kirby - Marvel Romance TPB

2006-02-05T00:19:00.000-05:00

The MARVEL ROMANCE collection is out now. As mentioned before, featuring these Kirby stories:

"The Summer Must End!"
From Teen-Age Romance #84 (November 1961)

"By Love Betrayed!"
"Give Back My Heart!"
From Love Romances #102 (November 1962)

"The Dream World of Doris Wilson!"
"If Your Heart I Break---"
From Love Romances #103 (January 1963)

And other promising non-Kirby stuff.

Where Monsters Dwell #3

2006-02-04T15:06:00.000-05:00

Three Kirby reprints in this issue. "Grottu, King Of The Insects" leads off the book, 6-pager by Kirby/Everett reprinted from STRANGE TALES #73 (1960), part of the giant-insect series. This time the beast is an African army ant, exposed to atomic radiation from a Russian test and quickly growing and gaining intelligence.

Rumours of the creature spread to America, where one of those generic Kirby adventurers hears about it and goes to check it out, just in time for Grottu to make his move on a port city where he'll lead his ant army on a cruise of world conquest. He ends up getting one of the most embarrassing deaths of his species, as he's buried in sugar and crushed by his own army.

I think this is the only giant monster story Everett inked over Kirby, although he also did a few westerns and later worked over some Kirby layouts for the Hulk and had a very impressive run as inker on Thor. Looks really good on this short story.

STRANGE TALES #72 (1959) is the source for the 5-page "I Fought The Colossus" by Kirby/Ditko. Posted about it from another reprint here, I'll just add that I really like the futuristic architecture.

Finally from STRANGE TALES #78 (1960) is "A Martian Walks Among Us", a Kirby/Ayers 7-page story. Great splash page (and remember you can always find out more about these stories, including the splash pages, over at the MonsterBlog), one of the creepiest of Kirby's splash pages for the monster stories. The story is about a man who is attacked by a Martian invader who steals his form, and then pursues the alien for the rest of the story, somehow knowing how to make an infra-red detector to see through the disguise abilities. He's able to stop the impending invasion, and it turns out the "human" was actually a Venusian, sworn to protect the Earth from invasion.

The cover can just barely be called a reprint of the ST #73 cover, with the original Kirby/Everett Grottu figure preserved but the entire background redrawn by Marie Severin and Bill Everett.

Published 1970

Ghost Rider #22 - Cover

2006-02-03T23:14:00.000-05:00

GHOST RIDER #22 - February 1977, inked by Al Milgrom. Another one of those odd choices of cover assignments for Kirby, he did three covers for GHOST RIDER in around this time. Looking at the series as a whole it looks like the intent was to give the book more of a super-hero flavour, playing down the super-natural stuff from earlier, so I guess having Kirby on the covers was a part of that.

Marvel Tales #145 - Spider-Man Tackles the Torch

2006-02-03T21:00:00.000-05:00

This issue of reprints the contents of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #8 (1964), including the 6-page Kirby/Ditko backup story. Oddly, Spidey knows that Doris Evans is the Torch's girlfriend in this issue, but doesn't recognize her when he meets her a year later in ASM #21. Anyway, a great example of an early Marvel crossover story, with Spidey deciding to tease the Torch, quickly finding himself in way over his head before the rest of the FF intervene, finally being pacified by Sue. Nice artwork, too, except the reprint loses some of the finer linework, which especially makes the webbing and the Thing look splotchy.

Published 1982

Our Fighting Forces #153 - Devastator vs. Big Max

2006-02-02T20:23:00.000-05:00

This is probably the silliest of Kirby's dozen Losers stories. In this European based story we begin with Hitler, Himmler and Rommel examining the new german super-weapon, a hundred-foot long gun with a 38-mile range called "Unser Max" (Our Max). An allied agent is detected among the german soldiers and killed, but mentions the allied weapon "The Devastator" before he dies.

The Devastator turns out to be the idea of Private Rodney Rumpkin, aka Rocketship Rumpkin, a fan of sci-fi pulps and comics and the fanciful weapons in those stories. The allies build a hollow model of such a super-weapon in order to make the germans use Big Max in daylight, revealing its location for a waiting airstrike.

As I said, a bit silly, but with a lot of charm, and some great art, from the scenes of the Max-induced destruction to the fanciful pulp covers.

Mike Royer inks the 18-page story, as well as the 2-page feature on WWII uniforms and insignias. D. Bruce Berry inks the cover, and Kirby also writes a text page, "Before the letters begin..." talking about how the stories will reflect his own experiences and welcoming feedback.

Published 1975

Marvel Premiere #35 - Cover

2006-02-01T19:14:00.000-05:00

MARVEL PREMIERE #35 - April 1977, inked by John Verpoorten (with background panels from the interior art by Jim Craig and Dave Hunt). Not a bad character to go with Kirby's style, though a bit bland, and the back-story and premise presented in this issue is truly mind-numbing stuff. And I'm not sure why you'd do a 3-D Man comic that, y'know, isn't in 3-D.

Fantastic Four #200 - Cover

2006-01-31T21:14:00.000-05:00

FANTASTIC FOUR #200 - November 1978, inked by Joe Sinnott. The last time Kirby would draw the FF for Marvel (although he would draw story-boards for a cartoon after this, and some of those boards would be taken and turned into a comic a few years later). A simple enough cover, but effective. Shame it only has one of the four team members, though. Nice that we got one final Doom cover by Kirby, though.

Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #138 - The Big Boom

2006-01-30T23:59:00.000-05:00

This issue concludes the big battle with the Four-Armed Terror, unleashed on The Project by the Evil Factory. The Terror is a great villainous monster, which is probably why Kirby did a bunch of sketches with various characters (including the Hulk) battling him.

This story has a 15-minute countdown to the blow-up at the Project's atomic power plant as the Terror closes in, and Superman has to race through to stop it, while the Guardian and adult version of the Newsboy Legion are in pursuit. The funniest part of the issue is probably the scene with Morgan Edge, being told to flee the city by his Intergang contacts, not caring at all about anyone on his staff.

It's exciting stuff, but a bit off. Kirby originally had some other plans for this storyline, which apparently didn't match what DC had planned in their other books. Mark Evanier eventually used some of those plans as the basis for his LEGENDS OF THE DC UNIVERSE #14 story with Steve Rude a few years back.

Vince Colletta inks the 23-page story, with the Superman characters adjusted by Murphy Anderson. Neal Adams inks the cover, which features one of Kirby's collages, looking much better on cover stock than they usually did on newsprint (including the two-page spread with a collage in this issue).

Published 1971

This story is available in JIMMY OLSEN ADVENTURES BY JACK KIRBY v1.

Upcoming Kirby - TJKC #46

2006-01-30T23:45:00.000-05:00

Details on another issue of the KIRBY COLLECTOR are up on the TwoMorrows site. Looks like a lot of fun for the Fourth World fans.

THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #46
80 pages - Tabloid Format

He’s got the whole Fourth World in his hands in JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #46, as this issue focuses on Kirby’s FOREVER PEOPLE, NEW GODS, and perhaps Jack’s greatest villain, Darkseid! Also included is a rare interview with KIRBY, MARK EVANIER’s regular column, two FOURTH WORLD pencil art galleries (including Kirby’s redesigns for SUPER POWERS), a never-reprinted 1950s story, an interview with Kirby Award winner and family friend MARTY LASICK, a new Kirby Darkseid front cover inked by MIKE ROYER, a Kirby Forever People back cover inked by JOHN BYRNE, and more! Edited by John Morrow.

Two-Gun Kid #56 - Cover

2006-01-30T19:47:00.000-05:00

TWO-GUN KID #56, October 1960, inked by Dick Ayers - This is the original Two-Gun Kid, who'd be revamped in just a few issues. Ayers inking on Kirby western art is always a treat. Always a lot of nice detail on the outfits and the backgrounds.

Bombast #1 - Cover

2006-01-29T19:47:00.000-05:00

BOMBAST #1, April 1993 - The characters for the Topps Kirbyverse comics were taken from unused character designs that Kirby had done some time prior, so the covers taken from those designs are are a bit bland, with just the figures on a crackly background rather than any story-related content. But they still work, with a nice kinetic pose on this Bombast figure (okay, so it kind of looks like a bowling pose) and some nice bold solid linework. The character always looked to me me like something right in the middle of the Eternals and the New Gods. Don't know who inked this piece, but it's well done.

Incredible Hulk Annual #5 - Cover

2006-01-29T14:47:00.000-05:00

INCREDIBLE HULK ANNUAL #5 cover, 1976, inked by Jack Abel (with some re-drawing of the monsters apparently by John Romita) - Neat to see Kirby drawing a bunch of the old monsters again, even for just some small figures on a cover. Groot and "Titan" (originally of course called the Hulk) are in especially fine form, if not quite coloured as they were originally.

Airboy Comics v4#4 - Cover

2006-01-28T14:47:00.000-05:00

AIRBOY v4#4, 1947, Simon&Kirby, published by Hillman - Bit odd, S&K draw the title character on this issue, while none of the actual stories they drew in subsequent issues featured Airboy, but were "Link Thorne, Flying Fool" stories. Nice cover, I like those alligators, and the shading effect on the water.

Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers #2 - Death-Hive U.S.A.

2006-01-27T23:53:00.000-05:00

The first half of this issue is most of the original proposed CAPTAIN VICTORY #1 from the 1970s (except a few pages that were in #1), and the second half is from the pages that were added when the story was expanded to a proposed 50-page graphic novel, before finally being published by Pacific for the then-emerging direct market. Pick up the CAPTAIN VICTORY GRAPHITE EDITION for more details.

It's interesting to read this imagining it as a first issue, without the background that was in the first issue. It does seem Kirby originally planned to jump right into the story, with the Insecton invasion already underway and starting with Victory's first encounter with the law on Earth.

In this story, Victory goes with the local sheriff to check out an Insecton body they have at the morgue, which promptly self destructs. Meanwhile, the other Rangers face a small Insecton force, while in Spartanville the Insecton's use their devices to take mental control of the population to use as workers and hostages.

Victory orders the Tiger to seal off the area with an experimental negative barrier, which the Insectons manage to weaken by sacrificing some hostages and soldiers in a frontal assault while the Lightning Lady prepares a new type of Insecton.

Mike Royer inks the 25-page story and Mike Thibodeaux inks the front cover and backcover, which has headshots and brief blurbs on the major members of the main Rangers. The Kirby checklist credits Royer with inks on the alternate cover on the inside cover, but it looks a little flat to me compared to the other Royer inks.

Published 1982

Star Spangled Comics #38 - Cover

2006-01-27T18:24:00.000-05:00

STAR SPANGLED COMICS #38, 1944, was from the era when Simon and Kirby were in the army, and only did covers for the DC/National books. STAR SPANGLED was still running the Newsboy Legion as the main feature, as it has been since #7, and many of the covers were these kind of wartime propaganda style cover, usually these playful kinds obviously designed to appeal to the kids on the homefront. The enthusiastic looks on the kids' faces are a nice touch.

Rawhide Kid #33 - Cover

2006-01-27T15:24:00.000-05:00

RAWHIDE KID #33, 1963, is the first issue Kirby did just the cover for, after introducing the new Kid in #17. Good western cover, I like the texture on the rocks in particular. Dick Ayers inks.

Nova #5 - Cover

2006-01-27T13:24:00.000-05:00

NOVA #5, 1977, inked by Frank Giacoia, another one of those covers done in that era for non-Kirby characters. I kind of like Nova's design, it's very compatable with the Kirby look. The "Earth-Shaker" villain seems a bit ridiculous, though. I always think "robo-clown" when I first see this cover rather than "drilling machine". Looks like good goofy fun, I guess, especially with the crowds fleeing / crowds in peril look so common in the old monster books.

World of Fantasy #19 - Cover

2006-01-26T20:38:00.000-05:00

One of the not quite so long-lived Marvel monster books, this issue at least had a pretty cool Kirby monster, apparently inked by Christopher Rule. Very weird look on the monster's face, he looks a bit tired of this rampaging lifestyle he finds himself trapped in.

Published 1959

Mystic Comics #7 - Cover

2006-01-26T20:33:00.000-05:00

One of Simon&Kirby's non-Captain America covers at Timely, with some cool monsters coming out of the Trunk of Terror. And Hitler, too. The Destroyer is one of those characters who didn't seem to catch on, though he did last for a while in various wartime books. I think it was the striped pants.

Published 1941

Admin - That feeling of deja vu

2006-01-26T19:12:00.000-05:00

If a lot of the entries in the near future seem familiar, I'm going to be re-posting some of the covers I'd previously including in multi-cover gallery posts so I have a unique URL for each one, and maybe adding a few more detailed comments.

Love Romances #91 - Cover

2006-01-26T19:08:00.000-05:00

Jack Kirby and Vince Colletta provide the cover for this Marvel romance comic. I really like the movie poster style on this one, with just a hint of what the actual story might be about. This is one of my favourite of the roughly two dozen romance covers Kirby did at Marvel.

Update from the comments, the background figure is actually taken from Kirby's cover to LR #85, and it's not clear if the foreground figures are original or modified from a Kirby drawing or from elsewhere. Let us know what you think.

Published 1961

New Kirby - Marvel Monsterworks

2006-01-24T23:19:00.000-05:00

Out this week, Marvel Masterworks: Tales to Astonish Vol. 1, a reprint of the first 10 issues of the series from 1959/1960. Eight stories, nine covers by Kirby, plus lots of other interesting stuff.

Go here for more on the book, including previews of many pages.

Marvel's Greatest Comics #29

2006-01-24T21:36:00.000-05:00

With this issue MGC went from a general Marvel reprint title to all FF all the time, two stories per issue. Bit of an oddity in the transition, instead of continuing chronologically from where #28 left off (FF #36) this one goes back and reprints FF #12 (which had somehow skipped being reprinted before this) and FF #31 (which had just been reprinted in MGC #23 a year before). The chronological reprints resume next issue.

Anyway, from FF #12 (1963) is "The Incredible Hulk", first published the same month as HULK #6, the final issue of the series. Apparently there was some confusion going on, as Kirby draws the Hulk with less than the regulation number of fingers and toes throughout the story, perhaps thinking of the Thing.

The story opens with Ben and Alicia walking home from the symphony when Ben is attacked by the army, who for some reason were looking for the Hulk in New York, and obviously had a bad description. The army is called off when a captain realizes the mistake, and later Thunderbolt Ross recruits the FF to destroy the Hulk, who seems to be destroying various missile installations. The FF take the newly redesigned Fantasti-Car to the desert, where they meet Bruce Banner and Rick Jones. Rick is soon taken hostage by the real saboteur, forcing Banner to become the Hulk and try to drive the FF out of the area, leading to the first Hulk/Thing battle, which is unfortunately short and inconclusive thanks to outside interference.

Dick Ayers inks the 23-page story.

"The Mad Menace of the Macabre Mole Man" is a 21-page Kirby/Stone reprint from FF #31 (1964), previously posted on from the original. Still a good story leading up to the best era of FF, although the reproduction of a few pages in this and the first story leaves a lot to be desired.

This issue also has a 6-page "photo album" feature, taking various pin-ups and panels from the history of the FF, with notes from Sue. The cover is the Kirby/Ayers cover from FF #12.

Published 1970

Fear #6 - The Midnight Monster

2006-01-23T22:40:00.000-05:00

A 7-page Kirby/Ayers reprint from JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #79 (1962) leads this collection of reprints. This is a variation on the Jeckyll/Hyde story, with a brilliant but arrogant scientist developing a serum which makes plants and animals immortal, but also makes them huge and monstrous. When his affections are spurned by a young woman he vows revenge, and tries the serum on himself.

For the record, this was originally published the month before HULK #1.

He goes on a cross-country rampage looking for that engineer who he thinks stole his woman, only to eventually fall into a trap, a deep hole constructed by that same engineer, not even realizing that he was being pursued (though you'd think he might have heard from either his old room-mate or teacher, who the monster threatened in pursuit of him, but maybe he actually killed them both between the panels).

Nice short story, both for the variation on the Hulk concept and some of the staging, like the final scene where the monster is falling down the pit.

Published 1972

Boy Commandos v2 #1

2006-01-22T11:56:00.000-05:00

A pair of 12-page S&K reprint BC stories from 1942 in this issue.

"The Sphinx Speaks" is the third BC story, from DETECTIVE #66 (1942), and opens with a framing sequence set in the future (just as the second BC story has a framing sequence in the past). A thousand years in the future, a reporter is sent to do a story on a recently unearthed mummy. The mummy comes to life, talking like a New Yorker from the 1940s, which means he must have met Brooklyn, and indeed he did. The Commandos were in Egypt, disguised as part of a trading caravan and invading a Nazi-held town.

During the attack, Brooklyn hides in the case of a mummy as part of an ambush, which is how the mummy of our framing sequence picked up the story and his accent. Not quite sure what the point of the framing bit was, other than to give S&K something else fanciful to draw, but it was worth it for that

"Heroes Never Die" is from a few months later, one of the stories from BOY COMMANDOS #1 (1942). Rip Carter and the boys find themselves in China, helping in the fight against the Japanese invaders. An old man recognizes Rip as the return of the legendary "White Dragon" from 100 years before, and tells Rip and the boys the story of an American marine who put together a rag-tag bunch of foreigners, including four young boys who resemble the Boy Commandos, and battled against bandits and warlords, finally dying and promising to return in a time of need.

The old man, who was the original Captain Carter's lieutenant, dies after recounting his story, content that the "White Dragon" has returned, and Rip remembers that there was an ancestor of his who sailed across the Pacific and was never heard from again. Like his ancestor, Rip vows to free China, one city at a time.

One of the reasons Boy Commandos is my favourite of the S&K features from DC in the 1940s is the wide variety of stories and locales, and this is a good example.

The splash page claims this is fictionalized but based on a true historical figure, an American marine who was "the Chiang Kai-Shek of his time... who to this day is revered in China as a saint". Anyone know if there really is such a story, or if this was all made up?

The cover is a modified version of the original BC #1 cover, with the original V-formation planes in the background removed and replaced with various nazi guns pointing at the Commandos in the foreground.

Published 1973