Kirby Kinetics

In my last post, I discussed one of the first Kirby comics that changed my view of comic storytelling and essentially how a comic book should be done. This was of course The Incredible Hulk #1 with a cover date of May 1962. I was age nine going on ten. It appears that 1962 was the year that I discovered how awesome Kirby’s storytelling skills were, because that summer I stumbled upon the second comic that sealed my fate as a Kirby convert. This was Rawhide Kid #30 with a cover date of Oct 1960, probably appearing sometime in July.

Page four was the thing that settled it for me. First, the intricately constructed second panel with an overhead shot of the Kid surrounded by attackers impressed me with its composition. On that same page was the absurd spectacle of a man getting his pants shot down around his knees. Finally, there was the nonsensical wonderment of panel five, where the Kid, standing on his head blows the heels off the boots of an escaping antagonist.
Rawhide Kid was one of those comic strips where the protagonist invariably found himself outgunned and outnumbered in general. As was often the case, the Kid had to defend himself with his fists as well as his guns against multiple opponents, and Kirby gave the reader many examples of his hero’s ingenuity while doing so.

In the third story of this same issue, the Kid sparks a brawl by riding into town and vainly attempting to mind his own business. Instead, he sets off a battle that can compare favorably in animated wackiness to the best Looney Toons segment.

Above on page three of the Story “Riot in Railtown”, we see the Kid on the floor, and then jackknifing upward he sends his assailants flying. Next, on page four below we see the ensuing melee particularly well represented in the complex mass of entwined figures in panel two. Then, again hilariously in panel three we see a man’s  slightly bowed but upright figure propelled through a window, accompanied by the wonderful sound effect, “Poinnng!”

This is great stuff, enough to get a ten year old to embark on a lifelong appreciation of the singular artistic excellence of one man, the King of comics.

All images from Rawhide Kid #30
Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers
Text by Stan Lee