I really like the house in the background here. Lots of detail, nice texture, and really a good example of the Kirby/Royer combo. Royer’s display lettering is also interesting. It’s really unique, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else from that era doing such display lettering in the era.

Another single issue story in a more conventional mode, not referencing the Fourth World background much at all (except a funny brief scene of Barda and some of the Furies). Scott and Oberon are wandering around and see a bunch of monsters capturing another creature, taking him back to “Satan’s Lair”. They follow, coming across an old house run by Madame Evil Eyes. Various death traps are encountered before Scott realizes that the whole “Satan Club” is a cover for a ring of hijackers specializing in high-tech inventions. Not a bad story, but every time I read something from this stretch of Mister Miracle I can’t help but see how far it falls from what Kirby clearly wanted to do with the series just a year earlier.

Mike Royer inks the 23-page story and cover.

Published 1973

Kirby continues writing and drawing the Inhumans story this issue, now sending the lovable outsiders to the Baxter Building, where Maximus has convinced them a nuclear attack against the Great Refuge was launched. Mode of transportation? Lockjaw, of course.

After a brief battle where Ben, Johnny and Crystal are subdued, we find out that Triton’s mission was to see if Maximus was behind the attack. Black Bolt isn’t that easy to fool, it turns out. Getting the message from Triton, Black Bolt calls off the attack against the FF, and Medusa lectures the FF about how humanity should behave in the event of a nuclear attack.

I’m always a bit let down by the Kirby written Inhumans stories in AMAZING ADVENTURES. I suspect he could have done a lot more with them if the series had been launched earlier (it was rumoured in the hype pages for years), but as it is it only happened just as he was getting ready to leave Marvel. Still some great characters, gotta love anything with Lockjaw.

Chic Stone inks the 10-page story.

Published 1970

Thor reprints continue this issue with “The Maddening Menace of the Man-Beast” from THOR #135 [1966]. The battle against the hyper-evolved wolf in Wundagore, the home of the High Evolutionary, continues, with a lot of weird creatures and big battles until Thor finally prevails.

At the end of the story, the High Evolutionary explains his background and leaves the world with his creations. This was one of those characters that I have to assume Kirby had deeper plans for that he never got around to. He’s a nice character design and there’s a lot of unrealized potential in the concept.

One page, a look at what Odin is up to in Asgard, is edited out of the story, bringing it down to 15 pages.

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #121 [1965] is the source for the 5-page “Maelstrom”, continuing the “Tales of Asgard” quest storyline as the ship of Asgardians approaches the Pillars of Utgard. The second page splash is a classic image, the original art was featured in a recent KIRBY COLLECTOR. These back-ups are great showcase pieces for Kirby’s art, with a lot of powerful images coming fast in the five pages he had each month.

Colletta inks both stories and the cover.

Kirby does layouts for the 12-page SHIELD story in this issue, with Howard Purcell providing finished pencils and Mike Esposito inking. Esposito also inks Kirby on the cover.

The story introduces a new menace, the Druid, who uses magical trappings to disguise his high-tech science weapons. One of those weapons is a giant flying egg full of various weapons, which pursues Nick and Dum-Dum. Couple of good scenes during the chase, including the trademark flying SHIELD car with the flipped wheels (which is also on the cover). It also predicts the use of airbags in cars (were those ever used in practice before 1966?).

The end of the story takes us back to the SHIELD barbershop, and introduces new recruit Jasper Sitwell, who would become a major player in future issues.

Published 1966