“The Challenge Of Space” (k010)

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“The Challenge Of Space” is a 2-page feature by Jack Kirby from Gilberton’s THE WORLD AROUND US #36 [1961], inked by Dick Ayers.  Kirby had a considerable volume of work published by Gilberton in 1961, most well known being his adaptation of The Last Days Of Pompeii for their main CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED and several chapters in a Civil War history for a special issue of CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED.  He also did several short bits for several issues of this non-fiction book (including a few not included in the US series but included in a British version titled WORLD ILLUSTRATED).

The main theme for this issue is “Fight For Life”, with many short stories about the history of medicine. Kirby does five of the stories, 13 pages in all, finishing with “The Challenge Of Space” looking at some of the equipment used to train astronauts for space flight (this was dated October 1961, so with lead times it’s possible it was done before the first manned flights in the spring). This was a field that Kirby had more than a little experience in, having drawn the SKY MASTERS comic strip for over two years, ending in early 1961. The comic strip of course had a much more exciting an imaginative look at space travel.

https://www.comics.org/issue/224737/#1213584

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