{"id":629,"date":"2011-03-07T21:45:32","date_gmt":"2011-03-07T21:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/kinetics\/?p=629"},"modified":"2011-03-07T21:45:32","modified_gmt":"2011-03-07T21:45:32","slug":"explosive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/kinetics\/2011\/03\/07\/explosive\/","title":{"rendered":"Explosive"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the most explosive high energy comic books that I\u2019ve ever seen reportedly came about when Jack Kirby was asked to fill in for ailing artist Gene Colan. Indeed, the first few pages of the Sub-Mariner story in Tales to Astonish #82 are drawn by Colan in his lively and finely etched illustrative style, but when Kirby takes over on the third page, it is as if the stopper is blown clean off the bottle.\u00a0Although veteran Kirby inker, Dick Ayers gives the story a beautifully subtle embellishment, using more delicate line work than usual to tie the disparity of styles together, the contrast is still a bit jarring. Colan\u2019s last panel on page two shows Iron Man at bottom left delivering an uppercut to the Sub-Mariner. Iron Man\u2019s right arm tentatively leads the reader\u2019s eye to the right and the top of the next page, where Kirby obligingly gives us his opening salvo, a staggering blast from Iron Man\u2019s repulser rays.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kirby\u2019s signature use of outstretched palms thrust forward in forced perspective announces his sudden presence in no uncertain terms. We can\u2019t know if Kirby has seen the preceding page, but the ever professional artist aligns the trajectory of the rays coming from Iron Man\u2019s right hand with the visual sweep of the composition in the page on the opposite \u00a0left bottom panel, giving the story greater continuity.<\/p>\n

Kirby\u2019s first page is relatively subdued, seemingly in consideration of the abrupt artistic switch. His panels are smaller and do not overawe. It is on page four, his second page that Kirby floors Iron Man and us with a devastating blow from Namor.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sub-Mariner\u2019s right bicep bulges with \u00a0pent-up energy. The lines that slash down his triceps to the crook of his elbow join those lines that shoot up his forearm and end in a blinding white impact explosion. Kirby renders force in his most expressive manner with lines that emphasize the power and direction of Namor\u2019s blow, as well as those that reinforce its impact. The perfectly placed \u201cThoom\u201d sound effect slams Iron Man to the wall at the right of the panel, and the smashed machinery below his figure rams him upward, as well as directing the eye downward to Namor\u2019s leaping figure in panel two.<\/p>\n

The fight continues apace. Namor rips a huge electro-magnetic projection device from its moorings, firing powerful bolts of energy at his foe. Iron Man hurls himself at the Sub-Mariner, smashing the piece of equipment to bits. Kirby is utilizing spacious three panel pages to showcase his action sequences, and the first panel is always the most dynamic.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here on page 6 , the figures relationships to each other are extraordinarily complex and wonderful to behold. Apparently reversing the standard left to right orientation, Kirby shows us Iron Man crashing into Namor from the right side. The reason for this is that it emphasizes The Sub-Mariner\u2019s attitude.\u00a0Namor\u2019s pose in this panel is completely defensive. He is crossing his arms, turning his head away and shutting his eyes to protect himself from both the impact and the flying shards of steel.\u00a0To repeat, although the movement seemingly originates in Iron Man rushing from the right, the composition is actually the Big-O, one that we have discussed previously. That means that the eye is continually moving in a circle, and Kirby creates focal points for the eye to linger on before moving.\u00a0Namor\u2019s jackknifed body is a wedge from which all the energy of the panel is emitted. The apex of that force is Namor\u2019s gluteus, from where the visual bolts of the explosion emanate. Entering the panel at the upper left, the eye drops like a plum line down the Sub-Mariner\u2019s back to his butt, and the spotted slashes of black of Namor\u2019s abdomen, forearms and thigh muscles blast outward and to the right. Even Namor\u2019s splayed fingers emphasize this fanning out explosive thrust. The curve of Iron Man\u2019s back brings us back around to Namor again in the circular motion that characterizes the Big-O.<\/p>\n

Ingeniously, Kirby repeats the splayed hand motif in the second panel, which reinforces the panel above it. The curve of the fingers also creates an arc to the motion of the judo maneuver in the third panel.<\/p>\n

This issue is a titanic slug-fest and is filled with astounding action moments. Before the fight breaks off, there is one more sequence I\u2019d like to spotlight.\u00a0Here on page #10, Iron Man seizes Namor, apparently locking his arms and rendering him helpless. The Sub-Mariner easily frees himself.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In the first panel, Namor\u2019s left leg protrudes towards the second frame. What Kirby draws here is physiologically impossible, but makes perfect compositional sense. The sea monarch\u2019s left hand and the upper and lower portions of that leg emphasize the sweeping motion of the second panel as Namor whips Iron Man around, smashing him face first into a wall. Again, legs play a major compositional role, as Iron Man\u2019s left foot brings our roving eye to the third panel below left. The battle ends abruptly in a stalemate, as the Sub-Mariner suddenly quits the field in pursuit of another enemy.<\/p>\n

This issue is a one of a kind Kirby action wonder, which I can\u2019t say enough about, so I leave off here. Nobody does this sort of thing better than the King.<\/p>\n

All samples from Tales to Astonish #82, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the most explosive high energy comic books that I\u2019ve ever seen reportedly came about when Jack Kirby was asked to fill in for ailing artist Gene Colan. Indeed, the first few pages of the Sub-Mariner story in Tales to Astonish #82 are drawn by Colan in his lively and finely etched illustrative style, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kinetics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/kinetics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/kinetics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/kinetics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/kinetics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/kinetics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/kinetics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/kinetics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/kinetics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kirbymuseum.org\/blogs\/kinetics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}