This is the first issue of STAR SPANGLED to just have an S&K Newsboy Legion cover as the boys were off to the army, handing off the interiors to others in the interim. Great way to send off, with one of the many strongly patriotic wartime covers, with nice expressions on the faces of the boys. Very nice planes back there, too.
Published 1944
Now here’s a pretty cover. One of the occasional Ditko ink jobs over Kirby from the era, one of the very few westerns among those collaborations.
That’s just an amazing horse. I’m gaining a whole new appreciation for horses in Kirby artwork. After everything else is covered in this weblog (still a few years to go…) I’m going to do a gallery of Kirby horses. And Kirby dinosaurs. Either that or start a Ditko weblog…
Published 1960
Two Kirby stories in this final issue of the reprint series. “Mister Morgan’s Monster”, a 7-page Kirby/Ayers story from STRANGE TALES #99 (1962) I previously discussed from another reprint. Again, it’s one of my favourite of the monster stories. The scenes of the aliens crawling all over the robot trying to stop him are great.
“Hotel of Death” is a re-titled version of the 13-page “Hotel of Horror” from CAPTAIN AMERICA #10 (1942), the final S&K issue of the golden age. There are a lot of other minor changes, from adding space between the panels to adjust for the 1960s aspect ratio, changing the name of the city from Gotham to Beacon for some reason and changing a kind of stereotypical depiction of a pair of black train porters.
In this story, Cap is invited to help sell Defense Bonds in “Beacon City”. He and Bucky are taken to a hotel by a man claiming to be the Mayor’s secretary, but as soon as Bucky leaves the room strange things begin to happen, with the desk clerk denying ever seeing him before and having him arrested. Meanwhile, Cap finds himself prisoner of a nazi agent named the Netman, who throws nets on people. Clearly S&K weren’t going to waste a decent villain on their final issue…
Bucky manages to escape from jail with the help of a gorgeously drawn horse and returns to the hotel, infiltrating it as a bellhop. He falls down a trapdoor and is taken prisoner, but Cap has already freed himself and is disguised as one of the robed henchmen, so he and Bucky clean house, burning down the hotel in the process.
Pretty horribly printed in this version, especially the colouring, which is often way off-register, but it is a fun story, with some really well drawn scenes (as I said, the horse is really well rendered).
The Kirby Checklist has this as Reed Crandall inks, which seems right. Certainly it has the finer line style typical of Crandall’s solo work.
Published 1967
This is my favourite of Kirby’s DAREDEVIL covers. A pretty girl, an “in your face” action scene, a classic Kirby outstretched hand.
Really good detailing on the building, too. I’m surprised Colletta kept all that in. Hey, come on, I haven’t made a cheap shot at Colletta in ages…
Published 1964
The lead story in this issue is reprinted from TALES TO ASTONISH #19 (1961), a 13-page monster story by Kirby/Ayers. As is not atypical in these stories, the colour of the monster is changed from the original reddish-brown to green.
This story is about a geologist, John Hunter, who turned to crime and was sentenced to life in prison. On his way to jail, his train was stopped by a UFO. He escapes and hides aboard the ship as the alien, Rommbu, talks with the people.
![Where Monsters Dwell #7 [1971]](http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/kirby/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2005/06/Where-Monsters-Dwell-7-1971.jpg)
The people greet Rommbu in peace, but he announces he’s from a warlike planet and an invasion is on the way. Now, as an aside, humanity in these stories demonstrates the worst judgment in the world. Every time there’s a peaceful alien, they assume it’s warlike, every time it’s warlike they greet it in peace. What up with that?
Anyway, Rommbu takes off to wait for humanity’s reply, and finds his stowaway. Determining that the man was indeed a criminal, he decides to trust Hunter as willing to betray humanity and demands a safe place to land so he can recharge his ship. Hunter leads him to a dormant volcano, which conveniently he knew from his geological past was about to erupt. Humanity is spared, and Hunter’s brother realizes that he must have sacrificed his life.
A fun variation on a classic theme, and Rommbu’s a great looking monster.
The cover is a Kirby/Ayers piece from TALES TO ASTONISH #19, slightly modified with some new bits added among the fleeing crowds, shooting cops and background buildings.
Published 1971
Okay, so the Kid didn’t exactly have the most realistic western adventures…
Silly cover, but effective. I like the look of the buildings on this one a lot.
The Kirby Checklist doesn’t have an inking credit for this one. I only have a fairly low resolution scan to go on, but it looks a little like Chic Stone.
Published 1964
I can’t claim to always understand CAPTAIN VICTORY, but in the right mood I can dig it.
This issue features a trip through hyper-space, and the reality warping properties that you find there. There are two double-page spreads which are kind of interesting in that they’re the kind of thing that Kirby would have used photo-collage effects for a decade or two earlier, but draws by hand this time. I like this way better. Anyway, there’s some weird stuff going on that I don’t understand (and I’m sure re-reading the previous issue would only help slightly) before you get the big battle with the Wonder Warriors the ship was pursuing. Ah, Ursan the Unclean. And the Fighting Fetus. What was Kirby thinking? The issue closes with a cliffhanger as the Fetus starts to grow in a sea of Kirby crackle.
Five page back-up continues the look at Ranger Martius Klavus and his people in the story “The Unseen World”, where we find out how they came to be influenced by ancient Roman styles and dress. The back cover features a look at the reptilian crew of the engineering section, who kind of remind me of the alligator Lockjaw, led by Director Chusang.
Inks are by Mike Thibodeaux on the 25-page lead story, 5-page back-up and front and back covers
Published 1983
Wow, I’m just in awe of how gorgeous this cover looks. The shape and texture of the demon, the smoke, the girl in the background. Even more scary is how work like this was routine for Simon&Kirby in that era.
I sometimes wonder what Kirby’s 1960s and 1970s work would look like with this kind of inking sensibility. Different, certainly.
Published 1951
In “Lest Mankind Fall”, Thor and Sif continue their battle with the hordes of Pluto while in the time funnel surrounding the Atomic Research Center, where a mysterious being of power is found within a cocoon.
![Thor #164 [1969]](http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/kirby/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2005/06/Thor-164-1969.jpg)
I like Thor’s indignant “Thy words blaspheme” at the suggestion that anyone claim to have powers to match Odin. He’s such a daddy’s boy.
Speaking of Odin, he sends Balder, heartsick over his feelings about the Norn Queen Karnilla, down to Earth to fetch Odin and Sif, so he’s on hand, with the army, when Thor finally breaks them out of the time funnel, and great battles ensue until Zeus decides to pay attention and enforce the covenant eternal that keeps Pluto in the netherworld. Meanwhile, the cocoon opens.
Action filled issue, very heavy on the big images (four full page splashes), with a few interesting moments. It’s one of those issues where you get a bit of a feeling that the plot was somewhat altered, as was the case for many THOR issues of this period, though I don’t recall any specific examples of unused pages from this story. Still a lot of fun. One thing I noticed was that, rather oddly for such an action filled 1960s Marvel, there were almost no sound effects in the issue. Kind of weird how back then one issue could go overboard on the sound effects and another could not have them at all.
Vince Colletta inked the cover and 20-page story.
Published 1969
One of Marvel’s shorter lived interchangeable anthologies of the late 1950s, STRANGE WORLDS only lasted five issues but did see four Kirby covers in that span (and one by Ditko), plus some interior work by those two and Al Williamson, Don Heck and others, so it did okay.
Christopher Rule is the attributed inker to this Kirby cover. Frankly this is one of the less inspired of Kirby’s covers from this era, especially having seen how he handled similar subject matter (space-suits and alien landscapes) in earlier work of the decade. Even the alien ship is a bit lacking compared to most Kirby drew. The aliens aren’t bad, and the expression on the astronaut’s face is good, but that’s about it.
Published 1959