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The splash panel is fairly strong, showing Kirby\u2019s early use of a circular composition. It begins as the eye enters the page on the left with the gesturing monocle wearing figure of Sando, whose hands point to the huge yellow head of Omar. That figure\u2019s claw like hand leads our eye to the base of the crystal sphere and up to the figure of Captain America, and then the top of the sphere and the logo type take us back to Sando. Eventually, our gaze drops to the couple in the audience and onward to the second panel.<\/p>\n
It is a nice solidly drawn and inked page, but it is positively static in comparison to the 1965 version below.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n This page also leads us into the action with a gesturing Sando, but he is a full-blown dynamic Kirby body, with forced perspective hands outstretched in contrapuntal directions. The crouching Omar is the page\u2019s most stationary figure, still pointing to a smaller sphere and a darting Bucky, whose angled position leads us to Captain America. It is here that the startling difference of twenty-five years experience is most apparent. Instead of running rather mildly in place on the rightward edge of the page, Cap\u2019s pose is the center of the action and his elongated arch weaves the page\u2019s kinetic rhythm together. The frieze of audience figures on the bottom border also reinforces the circular direction of the composition.<\/p>\n Page two of the golden age version was probably at best roughly laid out by Kirby, and gives us the sketchiest approximation of realistic detail.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Joe Simon and inker, Al Liederman, probably did most of the finished drawing above. The structure of the theater and such objects as tanks and weaponry are desultory at best. Still, Kirby clearly later uses the crudely executed page as a jumping off point for his reenactment. Like the 1941 version, panel one of the newer page below is an exterior shot of the theater and panel two also mimics the original by showing the audience and the stage.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kirby next shows Sando and Omar together, but as the camera pans in, we see the older page\u2019s floating eye motif reinterpreted as a gradual enlargement to a looming close up of Omar\u2019s eyes. Next we see the crystal globe mirror the circle of the iris, revealing a beautifully drawn tank, which explodes in burst of energy in the final panel.<\/p>\n At this point, Kirby dispenses with following the continuity of the old comic and finds a new rhythm. He only returns to the source for an occasional panel. A notable comparison occurs on page six of both issues. The frame in question is the first on the page in the Golden Age story and last in the 1965 version. The older panel is almost certainly drawn and at least partially inked by Kirby, and is so small as to escape scrutiny, were it not so similar to what Kirby does in later years.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n