This cover was Kirby’s return to Thor after five years, and he definitely came back swinging, if you’ll pardon the pun. I wonder if he’d been watching some old Harryhausen movies prior to drawing this?
Disagreement on sources as to the inker here. Kirby Checklist has Mike Esposito, and the GCD, via frequent commenter Nick, has Frank Giacoia. I’m leaning towards Giacoia. Are there any indisputable Esposito inks on 1970s Kirby to compare?
Published 1975
One more of the many romance covers by Kirby to show up on various Harvey titles in 1956. Not one of the best, the foreground figures seem a bit stiffer than usual for Kirby. That cop in the background is good, though.
Published 1956
This is one of the cover-only S&K books from when the boys were off in the service. Not really one of my favourites of those, seems to be something a bit off in the inking, but the looks on the faces is nice, and the thugs coming in from the back are a good touch.
Published 1944
This Kirby/Giacoia cover isn’t quite Kirby’s last for the FF (he’d do one more almost a year later, for FF #200), but it is the last one to feature the whole team. Plus a number of the major villains. I’m especially fond of the Thing on this one (to make up for the last post), and the Surfer and Galactus headshots are nice.
Published 1978
This is one of my least favourite Kirby drawings of the Thing. I’m not sure how this one got through. George Roussos inks this one, and he was also inking FF at the time, and while his version of the Thing sometimes leaned towards this kind of blockiness, but I don’t think it got this far. On the other hand, everything else on this cover is excellent. I especially like those fireballs, and the city in the background.
Published 1964
Kirby continued to provide layouts for the covers of X-MEN for a little while after leaving the interiors. This one was finished by Werner Roth and Dick Ayers.
That’s a creepy looking character, that Mimic. Though, for completeness sake, shouldn’t there be some visual indicator that he has Jean’s powers as well? Flowing red hair or something?
Published 1966
So, assuming that gun falling away is Kid Colt’s, and there appears to be one in his holster, plus the one in his hand… How many guns did this guy need, anyway? I thought the Two-Gun Kid was being excessive.
Nice little Kirby/Ayers cover, although the Marvel age of hype was clearly in full force by this time, and is a bit distracting.
Published 1963
I swear, Marvel’s reprint department in the 1970s, sometimes I just don’t know about them…
This issue reprints “Gorgilla Strikes Again” from TALES TO ASTONISH #18 [1961], the Kirby/Ayers sequel to the original Gorgilla story that had been then-recently reprinted in MONSTERS ON THE PROWL #9 [1971] (not “Where Monsters Prowl”, as the note on the splash page says). The story is pretty good, although not as good as the original Gorgilla story, where he got to fight dinosaurs. In this one, Gorgilla feels a kinship with the humans who had recently discovered him. For some reason this kinship doesn’t extend to the people in the port city he sneaks into, or even the people on the boat he hides out in. No, Gorgilla is holding out for his true family, the people of New York City.
On arriving in the city, like most tourists, Gorgilla is feared and hunted, but he remains oblivious to that, and takes in a Yankees game. Meanwhile, some communists decide to take advantage of the confusion and stage an elaborate attack on a visiting foreign leader. Fortunately, Gorgilla stumbles across their plan, and this somehow leads to him chasing the spy up the Statue of Liberty, where a blast from a bazooka downs him. Yeah, I’m not clear on all of it myself. It does look great though. Gorgilla at a baseball game? Beautiful.
One page is edited out somewhere, I’m sure the one that makes the whole thing logical, making this a 12-page story now.
The cover is where it really gets confusing. Originally, the cover to TtA #18 featured art from the splash page of the story. I guess that didn’t feel right in 1971, so of course they commissioned a new cover, right? Nope. They grabbed the Kirby/Ayers cover to TALES TO ASTONISH #24 [1961], featuring the Abominable Snowman. Who doesn’t look that much like Gorgilla, and the scene doesn’t make much sense for this story. And they re-letter a few bits. And to compound the confusion, even though Gorgilla is brown, and the Abominable Snowman is brown, on this cover they re-colour the character white. Someone actually sat down and made these decisions…
Published 1971
Very attractive Kirby/Stone cover for this issue, really getting the concept of defeat across. Also, very nice job on the colouring, which gets the heat and dryness of the scene across.
Published 1965
Here’s a nice bold, in-your-face western cover by Kirby and Chic Stone. The Kid’s pose is nicely confident and ready for action.
Published 1965