I really like this example of the wartime S&K covers. As with many of the Newsboy Legion covers, the focus was on the effort of people on the home front in aiding the war effort (while the Boy Commandos covers featured that team on the various front lines), and it comes across nicely on this one, without being overbearing, and some nice rendering on the machinery.
Published 1944
The one TWO-IN-ONE cover by Kirby that won’t be in the upcoming collection (so if there’s a second volume it’ll be one of the most trivial entries on a Kirby checklist). Joe Sinnott inks, and it’s a nice action cover, and always good to see the whole FF in action, although Deathlok isn’t a character I know much about.
Published 1977
Another late-period western cover by Kirby, inked by Sol Brodsky according to the GCD.
A nice cover, but do you ever wonder if those western stars at both DC and Marvel get together and talk about how in their early days it was so simple, they’d fight outlaws and indians, and then in later years started encountering aliens and dinosaurs and magic boomerangs.
Published 1964
A reprint of the Torch story from STRANGE TALES #108 (1963) in this issue, where, in a theme borrowed from many of the monster/fantasy stories, the villain, a two-bit counterfeiter captured by the Torch, comes across some magic paints left by aliens while escaping from prison. His goal is then revenge, so first he recruits some fellow criminals.
Nothing establishes supremacy among villains like pulling a three-headed six-armed gorilla off the wall. I also like the giant gun crashing down through three floors. This kind of villain always gives Kirby a chance to draw some weird stuff an fun monsters. Of course the villain’s hubris proves to be his undoing.
Dick Ayers inks the 13-page story.
Published 1975
In a story reprinted from TALES OF SUSPENSE #85 (1967), Cap is hot on the trail of the Hydra agents who have kidnapped the as-yet-unnamed Sharon Carter when he finds that they’ve led him into a battle with Batroc, the leaper, and his accent of doom.
Pretty much just a big action issue from that point on, including one dialogue free scene with nine panels of Cap and Batroc exchanging blows until such time as the Hydra agents prove themselves dishonourable, earning Batroc’s scorn. A lot of great fighting panels in this story, and some good characterization in the dialogue.
Frank Giacoia inks the 10-page story.
Published 1975
The Panther, Abner Little and Princess Zanda have made their way to King Solomon’s and have to quickly escape with debating the collecting attitudes of the latter two. I especially like the Flame Chariot of Solomon that they escape in.
![Black Panther #4 [1977]](http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/kirby/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2005/08/Black-Panther-4-1977.jpg "Black Panther #4 [1977]")
Following their escape, the Panther gets roped into yet another quest of the Collectors, for a lost Samurai city and its mysterious sacred water. While this is all admittedly absurd, Kirby’s obvious enthusiasm and frantic pacing do make for some good reading, kind of the paper equivalent to fast action movie.
Mike Royer inks the 17-page story and Frank Giacoia inks the cover.
Published 1977
And, just a reminder, two weeks.
Joe Simon’s packaged reprints of stories from the 1950s BLACK MAGIC series started off with a trio of great S&K stories from 1954, late in their run on the book.
“Maniac” from v5#2 (#32) is about two brothers, one a bit slow and picked on by the other kids and the other who tries to defend him. A now-cliche bit of misdirection which I’m sure was fresher back then, this story also has some really good use of shadow and some real power in the layouts.
“The Head of the Family” is from v4#6 (#30) and, well, the (non-Kirby) cover kind of gives away the ending (the original Kirby version did as well), but it’s still a fascinating story about a woman brought into the strange family of the man she loves. A classic bit of horror.
“The Greatest Horror of Them All” v4#5 (#29) was one of the stories that was brought up in the hearings on horror comics of the era, and probably seems a bit tame now (I don’t know if Simon did any re-drawing on it for the reprint). A good companion piece to the previous story, this time it’s the man who falls in love with a beautiful woman who works in sanctuary for deformed mutants. Of course, everything is not as it seems, and it ends in violence as always.
Some great artwork in all of these stories, with strong confident layouts and heavy shadows on the inks. Definitely a strong period for the S&K team, cut short by circumstances.
Published 1973
Kirby kept his hand in the Iron Man series with the covers for quite a while, including this one which introduced the new armour. Still not sure who actually designed that new look. I always thought it seemed a bit more like Ditko (who pencilled the interior story) than any of the other likely suspects.
I like Mister Doll. What a name for a villain. He looks a lot like some of the Challengers villains.
The Kirby Checklist has this a Brodsky inks, which I’m not sure I agree with. There are some bits that seem like that, but parts of it definitely look like Ayers. Maybe there was some redrawing due to the new armour?
Published 1963
Devil’s battle against the alien invaders continues, as he thinks the captive Moon-Boy is dead. With White-Hair and Stone-Hand, Devil realizes that the Swarmers (giant ants) who inhabit the Tower of Death have the power and numbers to take on the invaders, and manages to get the invaders to destroy the Tower, causing the Swarmers to attack in mass.
![Devil Dinosaur #5 [1978]](http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/kirby/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2005/08/Devil-Dinosaur-5-1978.jpg)
Odd, since I’m picking these randomly, that so many cool Kirby insect comics have come up in the past few weeks.
Mike Royer inks the 17-page story, and one strange thing I noticed. See that thick border on the final panel? Every single page in the story has one panel with a border like that, kind of a weird form of visual boldface for the panels. I wonder if that was something Royer did on his own, or something Kirby indicated, or a Marvel thing. Are there any other Kirby comics from that era which have that effect? Joe Sinnott inks the cover.
Published 1978
Kirby got a chance to draw the old Avengers in this issue reprinting #37 from shortly after he originally stopped doing the covers. Nice cover, especially with the trademark Kirby crackling energy.
Dan Adkins inked the cover, one of a handful he did during that era.
Published 1976