Category Archives: Science Fiction

While there’s a lot of worthwhile stuff in them, I don’t think most people would argue that the second half of Kirby’s 40-issue run on KAMANDI is weaker than the first half, as he had used most of the more exciting ideas and was just going through the motions for a while.  The 20-page “Freak Show” in this issue is a case in point.  Shipwrecked on an island with the recently befriended Flim-Flam and his human “animals”, Kamandi is pleased to reunite once again with Ben Boxer and the other atomic mutant companions of his (Earth A.D. seems to be kind of small, they keep running into each other after a few issues apart).  They encounter various odd and dangerous mutations of sea-life, leading up to the flying sharks featured on the cover, until they finally approach a giant wall that even those monsters won’t go near.

So not one of the more notable issues, mostly moving the pieces around to the next adventure, but some of the creatures are pretty cool.

D. Bruce Berry inks the story and the cover.

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Reprint from TALES TO ASTONISH #16 [1961] in this issue. The story was originally titled “Here Comes Thorr, the Unbelievable”, but for some mysterious reason was renamed “Thorg” (okay, not so mysterious). A 7-page Kirby/Ayers effort.

This is one of many examples of Kirby using large stone creatures (including, oddly , the first Thor story soon after this), specifically Easter Island types, in stories. I think there was an article in TJKC about it. Anyway, in this one Linus, an archaeologist, and his wife Helen go to a recently discovered remote volcanic island in the Pacific to examine some giant stone heads. He finds a hidden room and trips an electric eye, which brings one of the heads to life, digging itself out to reveal a giant figure. Turns out Thorg is part of an advance team for an alien invasion. Linus convinces Thorg that he can conquer Earth solo, without activating the other heads, and calling his people to the island. Naturally everyone else assumes that he’s betraying humanity.

But after the other aliens arrive, Linus sneaks away and uses dynamite to trigger the volcano, destroying the island, knowing that the aliens rocky bodies would sink in the sea. Everyone else flees, but they return for Linus when they realize what his plan was. The natives don’t seem too upset by him blowing up their island, but he did save humanity.

Lots of common plot points from several other stories, like man pretending to sign with the invaders and the advance force to the invading army, but as usual put together in a clever way, and great looking artwork (though not really done justice in this reprint).

The cover is a modified version of the Kirby/Ditko TTA #16 cover, with various figures added, as well as some boats and water across the bottom.

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As mentioned recently, this thick new book from DC reprints HOUSE OF MYSTERY #195 – #211, including the version of the Kirby story “I Doomed the World” from MY GREATEST ADVENTURE #17 [1957] that was reprinted in HOUSE OF MYSTERY #199 [1972], retitled “He Doomed the World” to go with the Cain introduction added to the first page.

The story has a rich inventor with a thing for ham radio getting a mysterious transmission which puts him in a hypnotic state, where he creates four metal rods to exact specifications and hires various experts to place them at the hottest, coldest, highest and lowest points on the Earth.

You know, if he’d tried to hire the Challengers of the Unknown they’d probably have picked up on the whole glassy eyed hypnotized trance thing.

Coming out of the trance days later, he’s mystified by what he’s done, until he gets another transmission explaining that this is part of a plan by alien invaders to destroy life on Earth. But fortunately, turns out the so called “expert diver” they hired went nowhere near the lowest point on Earth, as the photo of him shows. He claims he was “dazed down in the depths”, but I suspect he was just lazy.

Kind of a goofy story, especially there at the end, but with some great artwork that looks really snappy in this printing.

Published 2007

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Kamandi’s adventure among the dolphins concludes this issue. Following one battle with the “Red Baron” of the other side, Kamandi recovers in the underwater base, where several other humans die in an attack, much to the sorrow of their dolphin overlords.

Ben and his mutant pals go on the offensive, and Kamandi insists on going along. They take out the Baron, but Kamandi’s ship is rammed by the killer whale master of the Baron, angry about losing his prized pet. Kamandi’s impassioned rant about the futility and waste of war saves his life but leaves him floating on debris in the open sea.

One of the weaker Kamandi storylines, I thought, but there were a few interesting things in Kirby’s continued explorations of all sorts of variations on intelligent animal life (but why couldn’t Kam have headed into the Pacific to meet the Orangutan Surfing Civilization, or Australia and the Kangarat Murder Society?).

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

Published 1974

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