Monthly Archives: April 2006

–Link– Kirby Saturdays

Posted on April 16, 2006 by Bob

Saturday is Kirby Day over at Kevin Church’s BeaucoupKevin blog. Check out the first two entries and go back every week for more.

http://www.beaucoupkevin.com/

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Open Thread – Most anticipated book

Posted on April 14, 2006 by Bob

To keep this weblog a bit less Bob-centric, feel free to comment on any aspect of Kirby you like in this thread.

Suggested topic, quite a few upcoming books featuring Kirby are scheduled for this spring and summer. Which are you most looking forward to?

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Nick Fury and His Agents of SHIELD #3 [1973]

Posted on April 14, 2006 by Bob

Two STRANGE TALES reprints from 1966 in this issue, the SHIELD stories from #150 and #151. First up is “Hydra Lives”, with John Buscema making his return to Marvel, penciling over Kirby layouts, inking by Frank Giacoia.  Unfortunately two pages are edited out, making for some weird jumps and unexplained bits.  It’s not too bad looking, though parts of it don’t look like Buscema followed Kirby’s layouts at all (though some things, like the Overkill Horn, seem like pure Kirby).  Anyway, the story has Fury testing out a prototype of the “Overkill Horn”, a deadly sonic weapon that can potentially detonate atomic devices at a distance.  The test is explosive, putting both Fury and Dugan in wheelchairs (but not out of action) for a short while.  Nick then gets an invite to a party in the dead Egyptian city of Karnopolis by Don Caballero, who SHIELD suspects of being the new Supreme Hydra (“cut off a limb and two more shall take its place!”).  Nick heads off, leaving Jasper Sitwell in charge.

Next story is “Overkill”, this time with Jim Steranko making his Marvel debut over Kirby layouts (and my copy seems to be signed by Steranko on the splash page.  Or signed by someone, and Steranko is the only name in the credits I can twist this squiggle into.  Well, maybe Irving Forbush).   It’s really sharp looking, with a lot of nice dynamic bits and detailed settings.  It’s kind of shame that Steranko was “graduated” to full art so quickly, as I’d have liked to see what full Kirby pencils inked by him would have looked like.  Anyway, for some reason they decide to quickly abandon the “party” pretext (which probably would have made a good James Bond kind of scene, but I guess with only 12 pages an issue there was pressure to keep to action scenes) and Fury just arrives in Karnopolis and is attacked by walking statues and Hydra agents (Hail Hydra!).
NickFuryandHisAgentsofSHIELD31973.jpg

He’s able to escape on an unguarded plane, not realizing that he was allowed to escape, and the plane carries the Overkill Horn.  I’m not sure I like how easily Fury was duped. Still, it all looks very good.
The cover is the Kirby/Steranko cover of ST #151.

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Rawhide Kid #86 [1971]

Posted on April 12, 2006 by Bob

Three Kirby/Ayers reprints in this issue, all from RAWHIDE KID #17 (1960), the first issue of the revival of the series with a new lead (although they seem to have changed the order of the stories). The 7-page “Beware! The Rawhide Kid” tells the story of how the Johnny Bart was trained in gunplay and morals by his “Uncle” Ben, then taking revenge on two cowardly gunslingers who ambushed Ben in a shoot-out. The 5-page “When the Rawhide Kid Turned Outlaw” follows up on that, as the Kid investigates a cattle rustling, only to have the sheriff see part of a shooting, leading to the Kid running off rather than facing justice. Which doesn’t seem like what Uncle Ben would have wanted.

The third story, which was originally between those two, so actually occurred before the Kid was an outlaw, is the 6-page “Stagecoach to Shotgun Gap”. The splash page is a gorgeously detailed Kirby/Ayers piece of the Kid riding up behind a stagecoach. Turns out he was just trying to hitch a ride, and in the wild west bullets were used instead of thumbs.

RawhideKid861971.jpg

The other passengers are an old lady who makes it clear she’s carrying her life savings and a boy and his father, who are also carrying around a lot of money to pay for an operation. They’re suspicious of the Kid, until real outlaws ambush the stage and the Kid has to save them with his guns and his fists.

The last page of this seems to be edited in order to include a statement of ownership (207,000 average paid circulation), so there are probably a few panels missing, which might explain why the ending seems so abrupt (and some of the art seems to be not too expertly touched up). Still some very nice bits in the story, especially the horses and backgrounds.

Posted in Genre, Western | 2 Comments

–Link– MOCA comics exhibit in Milwaukee

Posted on April 11, 2006 by Bob

If you live around or plan to be in Milwaukee this summer, the Milwaukee Art Museum is hosting the first tour stop of the MOCA Masters of American Comics exhibition from April 29 to August 13 at the Baker/Rowland Exhibition Galleries. Kirby is one of fifteen featured artists, and if it’s the same as the Los Angeles show covered in the latest KIRBY COLLECTOR you’ll get a chance to see about 50 pages of Kirby artwork covering several decades of his career, and a lot more. The Yale University Press book that serves as the catalogue of the exhibit is also available. The show then moves to the New York / New Jersey area in the fall.

http://www.mam.org/exhibitions/exhibition_details.aspx?ID=66

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