Monthly Archives: February 2006

Eternals #13 – Astronauts

Posted on February 17, 2006 by Bob

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).

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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

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Marvel’s Greatest Comics #50 – When Opens the Cocoon

Posted on February 16, 2006 by Bob

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”.

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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

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Upcoming Kirby – Marvel in May 2006

Posted on February 15, 2006 by Bob

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