Monthly Archives: March 2005

More 1970s Covers (IM, FF, Invaders)

Sorry, been a bit busy, so I’m resorting to another cover gallery. 1970s Marvel this time.

IRON MAN #90, 1976. Jack Abel inks. That’s an interesting composition (remembering that most of these covers were done from layouts sent to Kirby from New York). It really works well with Kirby’s style.

FANTASTIC FOUR #175, 1976. Joe Sinnott inks. Two big cosmic types from the 1960s doing battle in the city. I like those cars fleeing down by the bottom of the page.

INVADERS #32, 1978. More Sinnott. Hitler using Thor to fight the Invaders. There’s some good high concept work. As usual, stuff like this makes me wish Sinnott had inked some more Thor back in the 1960s. He really seems to get the character.

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–Link– Simon Comics

Longtime Kirby art and business partner Joe Simon has a website with his son Jim, with quick looks at many of the classic S&K collaborations. Check it out.

http://simoncomics.com/

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Monsters on the Prowl #16 – Mister Morgan’s Monster

This 7-page Kirby Ayers story is reprinted from STRANGE TALES #99 (1962). Apparently after several failed attempts at making robots, an inventor named Morgan finally came up with a decent design in 2090. The robots worked fine (oddly the tasks we’re shown them doing are vacuuming and directing traffic) but were feared by people and outlawed. Morgan sends them off a cliff, but secretly keeps one alive, hidden under his house, for the day when humanity can accept the robots.

Then one day aliens secretly land in a cool looking ship…

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These aliens apparently don’t do well with confrontation, as they gas the city and sneak in, hoping to steal the robot, copy his design and use their robot army to invade Earth. Unfortunately for them, the creatur remains loyal to humanity and steadfast in his insistance on obeying Morgan’s order to stay undergound, delaying the aliens enough that the gas starts to wear out. The cowardly aliens blow up their ship and themselves rather than be detected by the humans, leaving the robot damaged and dying on the street. Morgan assumes that the robot had disobeyed his orders to stay hidden and humanity was right to distrust the robots. The robot dies with a tear in his eye, with no one knowing of his sacrifice for humanity.

Definitely one of the highlights of the Kirby/Ayers monster stories, this is a very well drawn and touching story.

As usual for Marvel Monsterworks, you can check out the MonsterBlog for more on this story.

Published 1972

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Western reprint covers 1973

Marvel used a lot of Kirby’s western covers in the 1970s reprints of their 1960s issues, sometimes with minor alterations and usually with new much brighter colors. I’ve always found it interesting that a lot of late 1950s and early 1960s Marvel covers have some detailed sophisticated colouring that you never see on 1970s books. Anyway, here are three for the big three Marvel western stars.

RAWHIDE KID #111, 1973. From RK #41 (1964). The fence in the back is new, and the speech balloon is completely redrawn (with the same dialogue). That’s a beautifully dynamic cover.

KID COLT OUTLAW #173, 1973. From KCO #99 (1961). Again a new fence, plus that coach in the background is added. Actually in this case I think the additions add some nice balance. I liked how they played around with the settings and angles to provide a variety of strong images within the genre.

TWO-GUN KID #112, 1973. From TGK #65 (1963). Yay! This one was pretty much left alone. A very powerful cover with a nice background and a character who would have fit right in on the super-hero books that were taking off when it was first published. My favourite of these three.

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Upcoming Kirby – Marvel in June 2005


Wow. Bucketful of stuff to list here. Explain this to me. In all of 2003, Marvel published one, count ‘em, one new book with substantial Kirby art. Now we get this. Not really complaining, better a flood than drought, but spread ‘em out a bit, dudes.

FANTASTIC FOUR OMNIBUS Vol. 1 HC
ESSENTIAL FANTASTIC FOUR VOL. 4 TPB
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: CAPTAIN AMERICA VOL. 2
CAPTAIN AMERICA BY JACK KIRBY: BICENTENNIAL BATTLES TPB
MARVEL MILESTONES: DR. DOOM, SUB-MARINER & RED SKULL

Five books in five very different formats. I’m most excited by the over-due release of ESSENTIAL FF v4, four years after v3. Some great Kirby/Sinnott classics in there. BICENTENNIAL BATTLES is also good stuff, should look good even with the tabloid issue shrunk down. It’s nice to see a MILESTONES issue with all classic material this time, which should be a good sampler of the Golden Age Masterworks books for Cap and Subby. And then there’s that FF OMNIBUS book. Wow. Very tempting, moreso than the MAXIMUM FF book listed before (no word on the status of that one). I assume by oversize they mean the size of the VISIONARIES books.

I’ve tossed in the listing for the FF MOVIE TPB, which just says it’ll include some classic FF stories in addition to the adaptation of the movie. Logically that would mean some Kirby (there are classic non-Kirby FF stories?), but you never know.


FANTASTIC FOUR OMNIBUS Vol. 1 HC
Written by STAN LEE & JACK KIRBY
Cover & pencils by JACK KIRBY
Variant Dust Jackets by JACK KIRBY & ALEX ROSS
They were visionaries. Explorers. Imaginauts. They were Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. And like their creations – the Fantastic Four – they continually strove to overcome the impossible and achieve the extraordinary. Now, the first three years of their landmark run on FANTASTIC FOUR – issues #1-30 and Annual #1 – are collected in one oversized volume. This keepsake edition also includes all original letters pages and pinups, critical commentaries, a historical overview, and other DVD-style extras – and features the best-ever reproduction of FANTASTIC FOUR #1.
848 pgs, $99.99
TRIM SIZE: OVERSIZED
Please Note: this will be a limited printing

ESSENTIAL FANTASTIC FOUR VOL. 4 TPB
Written by STAN LEE
Pencils & Cover by JACK KIRBY
Relive more of the FF’s classic exploits as they stand united against Dr. Doom, Annihilus and Galactus! Featuring the first appearances of the Kree and the microversal Psycho-Man! Guest-starring Spider-Man, Daredevil, Thor and the Warlock formerly known as Him! Lee and Kirby were the ones who started it all, and they kept it going in these cosmic tales! Collects FANTASTIC FOUR #64-83 and ANNUAL #5-6.
536 PGS/$16.99
ISBN: 0-7851-1484-X

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: CAPTAIN AMERICA VOL. 2
Written by STAN LEE & ROY THOMAS
Penciled by JACK KIRBY, GIL KANE & JACK SPARLING
Cover by JACK KIRBY
Who loves seconds? We love seconds—a second sensational serving of the Sentinel of Liberty! Yes, that’s right, the Mighty Minions of Marvel are chipping the next Cap Masterworks free from its icy fifteen-year slumber and you’re invited to the homecoming party. So strap on your shield and prepare for a barrage of Stan and Jack’s best as Cap (with a little help from his friends, the Avengers) battles a bevy of baddies like the strange Super-Adaptoid—the super-powered robot with the combined powers of the Avengers. And if an android passing himself off as Cap was as odious as you thought, the Red Skull tries to convince the people of America that Cap’s turned traitor. Yikes! Don’t crawl into your fallout shelter in shame, though. Our boy will bounce back to take on a hearty helping of that horrendous head, M.O.D.O.K.., in his first-ever appearance, before taking it home in a scintillating struggle against Baron Zemo, guest-starring Nick Fury, the Black Panther and Cap’s super-spy gal, Sharon Carter! Reserve your star-spangled copy today! Collecting TALES OF SUSPENSE #82-99 and CAPTAIN AMERICA (VOL. 1) #100
240 PGS. / $49.99
ISBN: 0-7851-1785-7

CAPTAIN AMERICA BY JACK KIRBY: BICENTENNIAL BATTLES TPB
Written by JACK KIRBY
Pencils & Cover by JACK KIRBY
Cap goes cosmic in this collection of the King’s comics! See the Living Legend and the high-flying Falcon fight monsters and madmen in a dimension of disaster and follow up fighting a futuristic phantom! Finally, accompany Cap on a tour of history conveyed by the curious Contemplator! Collects CAPTAIN AMERICA #201-205 and MARVEL TREASURY SPECIAL FEATURING CAPTAIN AMERICA’S BICENTENNIAL BATTLES #1.
184 PGS. / $19.99
ISBN: 0-7851-1726-1

MARVEL MILESTONES: DR. DOOM, SUB-MARINER & RED SKULL
Written by BILL EVERETT, STAN LEE & ED HERRON
Penciled by BILL EVERETT, JACK KIRBY & JOE SIMON
Cover by ALEX SCHOMBURG
It’s SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP revisited as MARVEL MILESTONES brings on the bad guys! In a special preview of this month’s MARVEL MASTERWORKS: GOLDEN AGE SUB-MARINER VOL. 1, Prince Namor fights single-handed the world’s first deep-sea blitzkrieg, from SUB-MARINER COMICS #1! Plus: the fantastic origin of Dr. Doom from FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #2, and the first appearance of the Red Skull from CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS #1!
48 PGS. / $3.99

FANTASTIC FOUR: THE MOVIE TPB
Written by MIKE CAREY
Penciled by DAN JURGENS
Photo Cover
The comic adaptation of the blockbuster motion picture starring Ioan Gruffudd, Michael Chiklis, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Julian McMahon, this collection captures all the cinematic excitement of the new hit movie – plus a selection of the classic stories that inspired the film! Forty years ago, writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby created a team of adventurers like no other that had come before. Unlike previous groups of stone-jawed super heroes who got along perfectly in their pursuit of liberty and justice, the Fantastic Four bickered, argued and fought among themselves — just like a real family. Their continued adventures around the world, into outer space and throughout uncharted dimensions have pushed the limits of the Marvel Universe, consistently challenging readers’ perceptions of what a comic book could be!
120 PGS. / $12.99
ISBN: 0-7851-1809-8

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