“The Microscopic Army” (k006)

by
Posted in K100.

“The Microscopic Army” is a 5-page story by Jack Kirby published by Marvel in YELLOW CLAW #3 [1957].  Following the first issue of the series, by creators Al Feldstein and Joe Maneely, the next three were done by Kirby. Each issue has four stories, a total of 19 pages each issue, making up more than half of the published Kirby work in this brief 1956/1957 period of working at Marvel (the bulk of the other pages were western stories, plus a war story and a couple of  science fiction tales).

As usual for the short Claw stories, the plot is sparse but the art is brilliant, including a great splash page. In this story, the Claw uses a kidnapped scientist to create a shrinking device, sending in some of his soldiers as spies. FBI Agent Jimmy Woo is called in to a mysterious break-in and notices little tiny footprints, and uses a prototype of the device to shrink himself. A quick battle that includes a giant type-writer and Jimmy using a pen as a lance follows, and the Yellow Claw is forced to flee before his base can be found.

Kirby would use the shrinking gimmick several more times in his career, such as the “Scrapper Troopers” of the DNA Project, a Private Strong story and several stories at Marvel, including the Ant-Man.

https://www.comics.org/issue/13368/#111063
GOLDEN AGE OF MARVEL #1 [1997]
MARVEL MASTERWORKS #123 [2009]

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *