Daily Archives: January 1, 2005

The Conversion of Tegujai Batir

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In the 1995 anthology DAVID COPPERFIELD’S TALES OF THE IMPOSSIBLE, you’ll find the short story “The Conversion of Tegujai Batir”, which was “extrapolated” by Janet Berliner from Kirby’s unfinished novel THE HORDE, one of two such stories published (the other was in a sci-fi magazine called GALAXY in 1994). If you want to know more about the complicated history of the novel and the various attempts by others to complete/expand/adapt it, check out the 32nd issue of THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR, or this page on the TwoMorrows website.

This chapter isn’t really an easy story to read. I got the book several years ago, and it took me a while to get past the first few pages. After that it opens up a bit, either because I got used to the rhythms of the writing or because the plot moved to more interesting things. This story tells how the Mongolian youth, Tegujai Batir, came to be possessed by a jinn, then exiled from his home to join the Russian army in WWII, returns home to conquer as part of the Chinese army after the war, and began his plans for conquest that involve tunnels under the earth.

Out of this hatred was born the concept of the army that he would form., the one that would become known as the great worm. Its guiding will lived with him and among those who surrounded him

I’m not sure how much of Kirby’s own version of the story is in this extract, but it does have a few moments that seem to distantly echo themes he explored in other ways in his comic book work. Hopefully, if/when any of the attempts to complete the story reach fruition, we’ll at least get to see the 1979 five-page outline mentioned in the JKC article, or ideally one or more of the complete unfinished manuscripts that Kirby wrote.

The story is 18 pages, plus a short introduction by Copperfield and a chapter illustration by an artist who seems to be uncredited in the book. There’s also a brief bio of Kirby in the back.

Mister Miracle #13 [1973]

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The issues of MISTER MIRACLE after the other Fourth World books were cancelled don’t get that much attention, as they mostly shy away from the big cosmic over-arching plot and tell simpler adventure stories. They’re fun books, for the most part, but seem to show a bit of Kirby trying to figure out exactly what DC wanted from him after they’d responded to two years of some of the best work of his career with multiple cancellations (though that was largely a DC thing, very few books they launched in that era lasted much longer than the average Kirby book).

MISTER MIRACLE #13, “The Dictator’s Dungeon”, is a few months after the companion titles had been cancelled. After Scott Free practices yet another close escape, this time from a train, Ted Brown is captured by a flying ship, piloted by odd man-ape creatures (which Kirby calls “aboriginal”, but I’m not certain he’s using it in the right sense). Scott and Barda are also accidentally captured by the same ship, breaking in and cleaning house.

Mister Miracle #13 [1973]

The ship takes them to Mount Everest, where we meet King Komodo, a masked man who’s taken control of the abominable snowmen of the region, and who turns out to be Nazi war criminal Albert von Killowitz, who Ted had recognized and escaped from in Korea some years earlier. Of course they defeat him and take him in eventually.

It’s an odd story, with some promise that it doesn’t quite manage to achieve. There are a lot of nice things, especially the characterization of Barda and her interplay with Scott and Oberon. There’s a cover layout that’s been printed a few times that shows Kirby considered a “Big Barda and Her Female Furies” series, and I’m kind of sorry he never got a chance to do it, as he always had fun with the character even in small scenes.

“That Jockey of the Ink Jars” Mike Royer inks the 23 page story and cover.

Published 1973

Classic 1950s covers [Hi-School Romance, Love Problems, Wyatt Earp]

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HI-SCHOOL ROMANCE #55, 1956. Boy, that guy’s in trouble. Very nice, understated cover, which really shows off Kirby’s skill with facial expressions.

TRUE LOVE PROBLEMS AND ADVICE ILLUSTRATED #38, 1956. This is one of my absolute favourite of the romance covers, and I just wish there was a Kirby story to go along with it. Heck, I’d like to know if there’s a non-Kirby story that fits that cover in the issue.

WYATT EARP #24, 1959. And more western fun for all. I like how in a composition like this Kirby manages to capture a key moment, with Earp just ready to move, frozen in a classic Kirby pose.