{"id":208,"date":"2012-08-24T10:00:56","date_gmt":"2012-08-24T14:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/effect\/?p=208"},"modified":"2012-08-24T10:00:56","modified_gmt":"2012-08-24T14:00:56","slug":"the-best-laid-out-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/effect\/2012\/08\/24\/the-best-laid-out-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Laid (Out) Plans…"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Failure To Communicate – Part Six<\/h3>\n

Thanks to Mike Gartland and\u00a0John Morrow, The Kirby Effect is offering Mike’s “A Failure To Communicate” series from The Jack Kirby Collector. Captions on the illustrations are written by John Morrow.\u00a0– Rand<\/p>\n

Part Six was first published in\u00a0TwoMorrows\u2019 August 2000 Jack Kirby Collector 29<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cLess is More.\u201d Never thought about it, really; just another catchy phrase used by advertising people to try and convince you to buy something\u2014that you were getting something special. What could it mean? Well, I guess it could mean something like concentrated fabric softener, or if a seller was trying to convince a buyer that their \u201cnew reduced-size\u201d product was just as good as the previous size (except the price remained the same, or was increased, of course). But it wasn\u2019t until I began to research the layout work that Jack Kirby did for Marvel in the Sixties that I realized what it also could mean.<\/p>\n

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Jack\u2019s margin notes from Avengers #14; layouts by Kirby, pencils by Heck, inks by Chic Stone. Jack was brought back\u00a0in to set the tone and direction for the series, even though he stopped being the regular penciler on it with #8.<\/p><\/div>\n

Personnel-wise, Marvel was in a state of flux by the mid-Sixties. Due to the tremendous increase in popularity of the new Marvel line, Stan Lee was in constant search for creative people to help lessen the load; he was also seeking inroads to release new titles while under distribution restrictions. By 1965 books that originally showcased one super-hero found themselves sharing with another; or were dropped totally in favor of a new series. Storylines began to change to a multi-issue, serialistic format. New artists were introduced; some stayed, others didn\u2019t, or stayed but in a different capacity, such as inking, coloring, or production. The artists who were to pencil these books had to be indoctrinated to the \u201cMarvel method\u201d of story production. Due to the pressing deadlines, and foreseeing that some might have problems conforming in so limited a time, Lee decided that the best course to take would be for someone to work with these artists who could help them learn to work \u201cMarvel method.\u201d Well, who better than the one who unknowingly created it, Jack Kirby?<\/p>\n

To digress for a moment, it is my opinion that the \u201cMarvel method\u201d was not so much a creation as it was an advantageous development. Lee states in a 1977 interview that it came about in the Sixties, but in a more recent interview with Roy Thomas in Alter Ego, Roy convinces Lee that it must have occurred earlier, during the pre-hero monster era. This makes more sense as it coincides with the return of Kirby to Marvel on a regular basis. In my opinion, once Lee realized that Kirby needed little or no prompting to get a good saleable story out of him, he gave Jack the leeway (no pun intended) to develop characters and concepts that an otherwise full script would have restrained. When Lee also realized that he could adapt that type of collaboration with others, and get better stories from them (and free himself from writing scripts), the \u201cMarvel method\u201d was born.<\/p>\n

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Original art from X-Men #12 showing Jack\u2019s margin notes and layouts, with Toth pencils and Colletta inks.<\/p><\/div>\n

Chronologically, the precursor of Jack doing layouts might have been as early as 1963. Up until that time, most of the new super-hero line was pure Kirby\/Lee, but by the cover date of March 1963, there is only one book, Fantastic Four, with Kirby art produced. On that month, all the other titles drawn by Kirby up until then are handed over to the other resident artists. The Hulk went to Ditko, Strange Tales went to Ayers (which made sense since he was probably even more experienced at drawing Torch stories than Kirby). Journey Into Mystery tried out with Al Hartley (but settled better with Joe Sinnott), and Don Heck jumped in with both feet, premiering his super-hero drawing abilities with Ant-Man in Astonish and a new feature called Iron Man in Suspense (actually, Iron Man was to premiere earlier, but that\u2019s another story). This was the first attempt to have others continue the Kirby\/Lee technique, but many of the stories showed the lack of something (or someone). Of course while this was going on, Jack was not idle; he was behind the scenes drawing and developing, in conjunction with Stan, what would become The Avengers, The X-Men, Sgt. Fury, FF Annual #1 and Strange Tales Annual #2. Up front he continued to draw the monthly FF adventures, a Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man, or Torch story here and there, and the cover art for almost the complete line.<\/p>\n

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Margin notes from Avengers #16.<\/p><\/div>\n

When Sgt. Fury, The Avengers, and The X-Men premiere, the process begins to repeat itself. Kirby draws approximately the first year of stories and then another artist comes in to continue; but unlike the earlier non-Kirby period, Jack doesn\u2019t leave entirely. We now finally come to 1965; there are more titles to draw than ever before, and unlike two years previous, Stan cannot resort to his resident artists to fill in because they already have their hands full drawing books. Enter the freelancers; some were old friends of Stan from the Timely\/Atlas days, some were from competitor companies, some were talented newcomers; but none were experienced at drawing stories \u201cMarvel method.\u201d It is during this time and for this reason that Jack is persuaded to do layouts to help these \u201cnew\u201d artists.<\/p>\n

Jack is first credited with layouts in Avengers #14 (cover-dated March 1965), but of course this should not infer that Jack didn\u2019t influence plots or artwork for other artists prior to this. There is an excellent article in the Jack Kirby Quarterly by Nigel Kitching which covers Kirby contributing art \u201chelp\u201d on stories where his name doesn\u2019t appear, like Avengers #9-13. On copies of the original art to Avengers #14 there is evidence of Jack\u2019s border notes similar to the type we covered on the Journey into Mystery #111 article in TJKC #26, but this particular issue seemed to have many hands in it; Lee, Ivey, Heck, Stone, et. al. Jack also lays out the stories to Avengers #15 and #16, by which time his border notes become much more expansive and descriptive. These three issues appear to be Jack\u2019s \u201cdry run\u201d at leaving pencil and story layouts for other artists to follow.<\/p>\n

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Jack\u2019s notes here show the involvement he had in helping determine the personalities and motivations of the characters.<\/p><\/div>\n

By May\/June 1965 Jack has finished with layouts on The Avengers and with penciling on The X-Men (issue #11 was his last as artist), but he has picked up \u201cThe Hulk\u201d in Tales to Astonish (#68). Up until that time, Steve Ditko was drawing and co-plotting the stories. Mark Evanier related to me that it was Ditko who originally pitched the idea of giving The Hulk a series to Lee; perhaps it was Lee who suggested putting The Hulk in the Goblin story in Spider-Man #14 (cover-dated July 1964) that alerted Ditko that the character was being shuffled around looking for a home. Ditko therefore made the suggestion which led to The Hulk series beginning in Astonish #60 (cover-dated October 1964, after Lee and Dick Ayers indoctrinated Astonish readers to The Hulk in Astonish #59). After leaving the Hulk series, the very next month in Spider-Man, Ditko begins receiving a (long-delayed) co-plotting credit (he doesn\u2019t receive co-plotting credit on \u201cDr. Strange\u201d until two months later); coincidence? Ditko\u2019s problems with Marvel were growing\u2014but back to Jack.<\/p>\n

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Mike Gartland\u2019s lightboxed version of Kirby\u2019s original design for the Juggernaut, which was still visible in blue pencil under a pasted-up stat of the final panel of X-Men #12 (right). Since Jack didn\u2019t tend to use blue pencil, this suggests that Alex Toth also worked on the original Juggernaut figure.<\/p><\/div>\n

Between June and August 1965, Jack co-plots and draws the Hulk stories for Astonish #68-70 and begins doing layouts\u2014similar to the Avengers stories\u2014for The X-Men; he also adds plot and pencils to help Stan launch the new \u201cNick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.\u201d series in Strange Tales. With The X-Men, Jack leaves layouts and border notes for Alex Toth, in what may have been his \u201ctry-out\u201d issue. This is not to say that Toth was new to the field; he was an accomplished draftsman long before this, but working \u201cMarvel method\u201d may not have been his cup of tea. He leaves after only one issue, a shame really. By the way, this particular issue (X-Men #12) is of interest not only for the obvious introduction of The Juggernaut; on the originals Kirby layed-out, The Juggernaut was originally intended to look different, with a flat helmet (\u00e0 la the Atlas Black Knight), a waist apron similar to Galactus\u2019, and spikes on the breastplate. Obviously someone thought him a little too lethal (or ridiculous) looking and asked for changes. Also it is my opinion that in keeping with the \u2018Origin of Professor X\u2019 storyline, Jack intended for Cain Marko (The Juggernaut) to be the cause of Professor X becoming crippled. Although I\u2019ve yet to verify this through the original art, the powerful images on pages 12 and 13 seem to confirm this, and the fact that Jack probably came up with the name Cain Marko (\u201cthe mark of Cain\u201d) would fit into the brother vs. brother plot. Stan almost always used alliterative names on characters he was writing. Stan of course would have had to change the \u201cMarko cripples Professor X\u201d plot since he knew he had previously established this in an earlier issue of X-Men (#9) using the villain Lucifer. In reviewing the border notes to the originals from X-Men #9 it is apparent that the crippling of Xavier at Lucifer\u2019s hands was not part of the original plot; there are no border notes by Jack pertaining to the incident, and the notes in the borders by Lee pertaining to it are written over erased Kirby notes. Also there is evidence of Wite-Out correction on word balloons in which the incident is added. So it would seem as though Lee added the crippling plot after the story was handed in, which is why Jack probably didn\u2019t know about it, or remember it if Lee informed him of it; which makes me wonder how much collaboration Kirby and Lee were doing on The X-Men to begin with. (And for those who want to point out that Xavier appears later on walking with Marko in the Korean flashback, you\u2019ll notice by examining the art that there is no evidence that the other soldier was meant to be Xavier in the first place.) Enough with the tangents, back to the story.<\/p>\n

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Original art from Tales of Suspense #72. As plotlines got more involved, Kirby began leaving longer, almost paragraph-length notes with his layouts.<\/p><\/div>\n

It is on the books cover-dated September 1965 that Jack is firmly established as layout artist. Jack begins in tandem plotting and leaving pencil layouts for Strange Tales, Astonish, X-Men, and Suspense (Jack was co-plotting and drawing the Captain America series in Suspense up until that point). He is also co-plotting and doing pencils for Thor and FF, plus cover art for the line. On examples of original art, Jack\u2019s border notes begin to become almost paragraph-length, leaving detailed descriptions and brief dialogue for the resident artist. Jack (and maybe even Stan) wasn\u2019t sure who would be drawing what story at any given month, so these notes were not directed at any of the artists\u2019 abilities. Seasoned veterans to Marvel, like Ayers and Heck, probably only referred to them for the plot or occasional panel dynamics. It was the \u201cnew guys\u201d coming in that all of these layouts were for.<\/p>\n

With each title Jack was laying out, Stan tried introducing one of the \u201cnew\u201d guys as artist. That was, after all, part of the whole idea behind bringing Jack in on this project. Plots were worked out between Kirby and Lee, Jack would then flesh out the story with varying degrees of pencil work, accompanying the pencils with border directions. The artist would follow this lead, in Stan\u2019s hope that he would add his own technique and flair to the finished art. Lee would then add dialogue and captions and make any last-minute editorial changes. This time period in Marvel marks the beginning of the artistic second wave; we\u2019ll take them one at a time.<\/p>\n

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Note how Jack sets-up the Hulk\u2019s motivations in these notes from Astonish #73.<\/p><\/div>\n

After Alex Toth left X-Men, Werner Roth, an old friend of Stan\u2019s from the Atlas days (1950-57) came back under the pseudonym Jay Gavin. Moonlighting from his romance work at DC, Roth adapted readily and within six months was working \u201cMarvel method\u201d with Roy Thomas as the regular artist on the title and stayed with it for almost two years. Kirby is credited with layouts on issues #12-17, although it is possible that he stayed on in one capacity or another until Roy came on in issue #20. From the onset, Jack was more devoted to this title than the others he helped launch at the same time and didn\u2019t seem to leave it creatively until another writer came on. Two of the X-Men\u2019s most memorable foes, The Juggernaut and The Sentinels, were created by Jack during this period.<\/p>\n

As stated previously, Jack came in on \u201cThe Hulk\u201d in Tales To Astonish #68; after drawing the first three chapters he begins doing layouts for Mickey Demeo. Demeo is one of the more recognized pseudonyms in Marvel mythos; the artist\u2019s real name is even more recognized throughout all of comicdom: Mike Esposito. Esposito is one-half of the legendary team of Andru & Esposito, as recognized and loved as Simon & Kirby to many. As with many from DC at that time, Mike took a false name (the Demeo was his then-wife\u2019s maiden name). According to Esposito, Jack\u2019s layouts looked like rough sketches and you had to pull them together as best you could. Sometimes the Kirby layout pencils were defined enough that Mike could draw over them in ink (as opposed to penciling over the layout, then inking it). This may help to explain why, in so many of the stories in the various titles layed-out by Jack, the Kirby look comes through even over another artist\u2019s work. Jack almost always did more defined pencils on the splash and would occasionally pencil a panel here or there. Esposito stays on to pencil a few issues, alternating with Bob Powell, but then opts to ink rather than pencil. In the interim, Gil Kane sneaks in for his first try at \u201cMarvel method,\u201d penciling one story under the pen-name of Scott Edwards. John Romita also comes in for one issue, then \u201cThe Hulk\u201d settles down with Bill Everett until issue #84 when he and Jack leave the series. Jack actually was credited with layouts up until issue #83, but #84 credits many Marvel hands so it\u2019s possible he was in on it. Jack stayed with this title for 17 issues; there was only one other title in which he would stay on longer as layout artist. It happened to be the new kid on the block.<\/p>\n

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In addition to layouts for other pencilers, Jack provided tighter pencils for Giacoia to ink in Strange Tales #141.<\/p><\/div>\n

Anyone from my generation knows about the James Bond series of the Sixties and the plethora of spin-offs that it gave birth to. Stan, ever commercial, ever topical, naturally jumped onto this bandwagon. He and Jack came up with \u201cNick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.\u201d; this series showcased all of the crazy high-tech gadgetry and far-out scientific concepts that made the secret agent genre popular and Jack was already known for. Stan also resolved the problem of bringing Sgt. Fury into the current Marvel timeline by making him the secret agent in the series (Jack and Stan lightly touched on a present-day Fury in the pages of FF #21, as an operative of the C.I.A., but this brought him back in ernest as a regular Marvel character). Jack penciled the first story in Strange Tales #135 (Aug. \u201965), but as with the Hulk series in Astonish, he stops doing full pencils and begins doing layouts with the issue cover-dated Sept. \u201965. And with this new title would come another \u201cnew\u201d artist.<\/p>\n

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Bob Powell\u2019s uninked pencils over Kirby layouts for Tales To Astonish #74, from stats in Jack\u2019s files. Marvel sent these to help Jack maintain continuity between issues\u2014which shows how directly involved he was with the plotting.<\/p><\/div>\n

John Severin was hardly \u201cnew\u201d to the medium, well known for his work with EC, Harvey Kurtzman, Mad, and especially Cracked magazine; his association with Marvel dated, like Roth, from the Fifties when he did mostly westerns for Stan. Although his work showed promise, like Esposito, he didn\u2019t stay long as penciler. After three issues Severin was gone; he ironically goes back in time with Fury, ending up inking Dick Ayers\u2019 pencils on the Sgt. Fury book. After Severin leaves, the \u201cS.H.I.E.L.D.\u201d book becomes a virtual revolving door of interim pencilers; it appeared that whoever was free for an assignment or wanted to try out was given a shot. Sinnott, Giacoia, Esposito, Purcell, and even Ogden Whitney of Skyman\/ACG fame pitched in for an installment. The dependable Don Heck did a few issues; and John Buscema came back to Marvel in the pages of a \u201cS.H.I.E.L.D.\u201d book. Buscema was also one of Stan\u2019s \u201cfriends of the Fifties\u201d group; Buscema likes to relate the story of how, when given the Kirby layouts to the story, he erased them all and drew the book his way. John\u2019s words from The Art of John Buscema: \u201cIt was \u2018Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.\u2019, and I didn\u2019t pencil it. Jack Kirby broke it down. That\u2019s how much confidence Stan had in me. He had Jack Kirby break it down, and I penciled it over, and repenciled the whole thing. I erased every panel and redrew it, because I couldn\u2019t draw like Kirby… and it came out pathetic.\u201d As has been noted on other occasions, Stan never wanted his other artists to draw like Kirby, but to learn his abilities at dynamic storytelling, which is probably why with the border notes\/directions, Jack was requested to do the pencil layouts. After Buscema, with issue #151, \u201cS.H.I.E.L.D.\u201d finally settles down with an artist who not only stays with it, and is a newcomer, but happens to be perfect for the book.<\/p>\n

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One of Dick Ayers\u2019 Daredevil tryout pages, before John Romita got the strip, working over Kirby layouts.<\/p><\/div>\n

Jim Steranko cut his comic art teeth at Harvey, but found fame at Marvel. Like Kirby, his art had a cinematic technique, and more importantly, he executed the \u201cpop art\/psychedelic\u201d\u201d style into his then-current work, blending perfectly with the secret agent \u201ccamp\u201d look; unlike Kirby, his style was sleek and polished, which also contributed to a better look for this particular series. Steranko would become the definitive artist for \u201cAgent of S.H.I.E.L.D,\u201d and even though his total work for Marvel would end up being less than thirty issues, it was a testament to his talent that it would be enough to ensure his fame. What is also of interest is that, within three months of his first story, by Strange Tales #154, Steranko begins being credited as writer of the series, making him the first regular artist\/writer at Marvel. As with X-Men, it appears that Kirby stays with this title until a new regular writer takes over, and as with X-Men, Stan relinquishes the \u201cwriting\u201d credit and only edits the book thereafter. Jack does layouts on \u201cNick Fury\u201d for 18 months, longer than any other series in which he is credited as layout artist; and seeing as how there seemed to be no regular artist on the series until the arrival of Steranko, it is to Jack\u2019s credit that he was able to maintain story quality throughout.<\/p>\n

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Kirby was often called upon to make art corrections on other artists\u2019 work. Don Heck\u2019s original Cap figure is visible under this one, presumably redrawn by Kirby for this Tales of Suspense #58 panel.<\/p><\/div>\n

Since Jack only did layouts on two issues of Daredevil, some would say why even bring it up? There\u2019s an interesting story behind it; Daredevil was, up until that time, in the creative hands of Wally Wood, who made the character more dynamic, visually stunning, and marketable than he ever was previously. Wood was, however, slated to begin work on the new \u201cSub- Mariner\u201d series debuting in Astonish #70, which is probably why the character last appeared in Daredevil (#7). The Daredevil book was being handled by Wood associate Bob Powell, who was preserving the Wood \u201clook.\u201d In the interim, however, Wood had a huge disagreement with Lee and refused to do any more stories (note: although Daredevil #10 is cover-dated Oct. \u201965\u2014two months after Astonish #70\u2014since it was a bi-monthly, it was possible that it was drawn around the same time). By the cover date of Dec. \u201965, Wood was gone, and Powell with him. Stan was initially going to bring in Dick Ayers to take over the book, but really didn\u2019t want to take Dick away from his other drawing assignments; as Dick was preparing some pages for the Daredevil book (of which he still has a few), enter John Romita. Romita had just returned to Marvel, having known Stan from the \u201cTimely\u201d days; previous to his return he was grinding out romance work for DC. Stan immediately gave John the Daredevil assignment, but unlike Ayers, John was not used to working Marvel method, so… enter Jack Kirby. Jack layed-out issues #12-13, and by #14 Romita was well on his way, staying on the title until issue #19 when he leaves in order to take over the artistic seat in Spider-Man.<\/p>\n

With the \u201cCaptain America\u201d series in Tales of Suspense, Jack follows the same program. He was the resident co-plotter and artist from its inception in issue #59 (cover-dated Nov. \u201964), until issue #69 when he begins doing layouts. Issue #69 is cover-dated Sept. \u201965, just as was Astonish #71 and Strange Tales #136; was this more than just coincidence? (And just as with the Hulk story in Astonish #59, Stan introduces Suspense readers to Cap in a pre-series story in Suspense #58, drawn by Heck, with Kirby art corrections interspersed.) The \u201cnew\u201d artist for this series was the indomitable George Tuska. Tuska was well known throughout the industry, drawing every genre imaginable for every known comic book publisher; always on the move, he rarely stayed with any one company exclusively. After issue #69, which was handled by Ayers, Tuska comes in as artist and does his usual yeomanly work for five issues, then he\u2019s on the move again, leaving Marvel for Tower. After another fill-in by dependable Dick Ayers, the series brings in John Romita for two issues, then goes back to Jack doing full pencils by issue #78. Jack stays with the series, co-plotting and penciling until issue #86, then leaves for five issues (Suspense #86 is cover-dated Feb. \u201967, the same time he left Strange Tales at #153). Why he left is unclear, but by Feb. \u201967, Jack was definitely done with doing layouts.<\/p>\n

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In addition to Jack\u2019s margin notes, notice how Cyclops\u2019 hand was repositioned in the published version of this panel from X-Men #12. Good call!<\/p><\/div>\n

For two years Jack did layout work for Marvel; for completists, the breakdown went something like this:<\/p>\n