Yeah, linking to my own other weblog, how gauche.
Inspired by comments on a recent post, I’ve started a little gallery of creators being credited on comic book covers prior to 1980. Of course, most of the examples I know off-hand are Kirby (Don’t Ask! Just Buy It!) and S&K, but there are some other interesting ones. Let me know about the many I probably missed.
http://fourrealities.blogspot.com/2006/03/credits-on-comic-book-covers.html
In “Murder Lodge”, Scott, Barda and Shilo stop by an out-of-the-way lodge while their car is being repaired, and it turns out to be filled with death-traps, trick-beds that flip you into trap doors and the like. Fortunately, while Scott and Barda are caught unawares, Shilo manages to escape the traps and use some of the training he’s gotten from Scott and Barda to rescue them.
![Mister Miracle #17 [1974]](http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/kirby/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2006/03/Mister-Miracle-17-1974.jpg)
Then it gets weird as we find out the intended targets of the trap were “The Tricky Trio”, mobsters who look a lot like our heroes, so Scott&Co. have to take out both the innkeeper (who makes a business of offering sanctuary to criminals on the run and then double-crossing them) and their doppelgangers before calling in the police.
A nice diversion, the series was mostly treading water for a few issues right before the end, and I thought having Scott and Barda getting taken so easily was a kind of transparent excuse to give Shilo the spotlight, but otherwise it has some good bits, in particular the weird twist with the doppelgangers.
Mike Royer inks the cover and 20-page story.
Published 1974
MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #25, 1977. Inked by Joe Sinnott. Great to see a few more Kirby Thing drawings on these TWO-IN-ONE covers. That was always one of his defining characters, and is fun to see him with all those other mostly non-Kirby characters he was teamed with.
I have to say, though, that’s some awkward positioning on the rope bridge, with Fist and Ben having their legs crossing. I do like the Kirby flames, with the obligatory crackling energy bits.
Thought this would be worth at least a mention, although obviously the Kirby is only 1% of the book. He is there on the cover, though.
THE ARTIST WITHIN hardcover
by Greg Preston
The culmination of more than fifteen years of photography by renowned photographer Greg Preston, this book is a living history of the men and women who have shaped the imaginations of countless millions of people around the world through their work in the fields of animated cartoons, comic books, comic strips, and editorial cartooning. The list of artists includes such luminaries as Frank Miller, Al Hirschfeld, Joe Barbera, Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, Moebius, Walter and Louise Simonson, and many more, all in photographs exclusive and shot expressly for this book.
Publication Date: Jul 12, 2006
Format: Hard cover, 216 pages, b&w, 100 photographs, 100 illustrations, 12 1/2″ x 11 1/2″
Price: $39.95
ISBN: 1-59307-561-8
The long-planned Lisa Kirby / Mike Thibodeaux GALACTIC BOUNTY HUNTERS project, with some characters created by Jack Kirby (including Captain Victory), finally has a publishing home announced, some start-up in New York called Marvel, and should be out as a six-issue series starting this summer. Don’t know how much actual Jack Kirby art there’ll be in it.
Long time readers know that one of the biggest gaps in this weblog is my lack of access to the bulk of the Simon&Kirby material, in particular from the post-war period to when the team split in the mid-1950s. Harry Mendryk solves that problem by giving me a new Simon & Kirby blog to point you to, where you’ll learn a lot about their work together, as well as the many other fine artists who worked for the busy S&K studio, plus work from other time periods. Harry’s got access to some amazing first hand research material, and the first few posts already have a lot on editing in the S&K books and the scripting technique than can be seen on some early 1960s Marvel art.
So give it a read, bookmark it and spread the word.
Even on vacation, the FF can’t avoid challenging the unknown, this time Reed is asked by the navy to investigate some ship sinkings and sea monster sightings. The boys finally end up in an underground tunnel with an amphibious creature, who it turns out is a crashed alien, unable to communicate with them and trying to save his mate. So we learn a lesson about the importance of communication. I have to say, though, Reed is a little unfair to Ben, saying he attacked the alien without provocation, when in fact the alien had sunk ships, almost crushed Reed’s arm and almost drowned the three of them. Anyway, the alien leaves, never to be seen again.
Still a nice tale with a lot of good character bits (Johnny pining for Crystal and playing with Franklin, Ben saving the others) among a string of single issue stories.
![Fantastic Four #97 [1970]](http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/kirby/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2006/03/Fantastic-Four-97-1970.jpg)
Frank Giacoia inks the 20-page story and the cover.
Published 1970
Inked by Joe Sinnott. Hm, Master Man. There’s a Roy Thomas villain for you. I like the Kirby rocks and castle in the background there.
THOR #255, 1977. Inked by John Verpoorten, with some re-drawing from the Bullpen. Because what, Kirby’s Thor doesn’t look like Thor? Weird. Nice to see the Warriors Three. And of course the original Thor foes, the Stone Men from Saturn.
Now available, THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #45, 80 big pages about the past and future.
Apparently also out now is the Ant-Man/Giant-Man volume of MARVEL MASTERWORKS, containing every full story Kirby did for the character, as well as most of his covers. Some of this is reprinted in colour for the first time ever.