Category Archives: Genre

Jack Kirby Checklist 1998 Final Edition [1998]

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Posted in Genre, Other.

Figured I should mention that a lot of the information for these entries comes from THE JACK KIRBY CHECKLIST 1998 FINAL EDITION, published by TwoMorrows. An essential guide for the Kirby fan, this 100 page book is almost sure to lead you to some Kirby story you didn’t know about, or a source for a reprint of a story. Also contains sections on Kirby’s comic strip work, magazine articles about Kirby and unpublished work and more. Liberally illustrated with dozens of sketches of his many characters.

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You’d also want to get the 2001 Update of the list which appears in THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #32. It lists a few corrections, new stuff published after the original list and newly discovered stuff.

100-Page Super Spectacular #15 [1973]

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Posted in Genre, Kid Gang, Superhero, War.

One of DC’s best reprint forums of the early 1970s was the 100-Page Super Spectacular. #DC-15 was a good one, with two Simon&Kirby reprints.

First up was the Boy Commandos story from DETECTIVE COMICS #65, the untitled second Boy Commandos story. They also reprinted the cover, which has Batman and Robin (by Jerry Robinson) welcoming the BCs to the book, an issue late, but Batman is a busy guy…

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The story opens with, of all things, Nostradamus in 1565, in the court of Queen Catherine of France. It turns out that not only did he predict Hitler and his invasion of France, he also predicted the Boy Commandos. No word on if he predicted Devil Dinosaur.

From that introduction, we go to the then modern day, where Rip Carter and the Boy Commandos are practicing parachute jumping in England. Carter then announces that the boys have to go to school, and they go an English boys’ school. They get hazed by the other students and befriended by a gardener. Unfortunately, the gardener turns out to be a spy for the Germans, hoping to get some hint about what Carter’s unit is planning. Fortunately, Carter manages to figure this out in time to change his plan and destroy a weapons factory in France, just missing capturing Goering. Of course, the boys are disappointed that after that they still have to return to the school.

Oddly, the story just ends there, while I would have expected a return to the Nostradamus framing sequence.

Later in the issue, the Sandman story from ADVENTURE #81 is reprinted. “A Drama in Dreams” has Sandy suspicious about how Wesley Dodds is acting (and as an aside, didn’t Sandy and Bucky have the worst secret identities in the world? I mean, their first names? The mask doesn’t really help much with that kind of clue). For one thing, Wes doesn’t seem to know that he’s the Sandman. Sandy follows him, and finds out that “Wes” is a criminal double, who has captured the real Wes in order to steal one of his businesses. Eventually, it ends with Wes Dodds, disguised as the Sandman, impersonating the criminal, who’s impersonating Wes Dodds, who is, of course, the Sandman. Yeah, I was confused too.

Two good examples of early 1940s S&K, plus the issue has three Superboy stories, a Superbaby story, Aquaman, Hawk&Dove and Dial H For Hero.

Published March 1973

Who’s Who – The Definitive Directory Of The DC Universe #16 [1986]

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Posted in Genre, Kid Gang, Superhero.

WHO’S WHO #16 featured four Kirby drawn entries (as well as Brian Bolland drawing the Kirby designed Morgaine le Fay from THE DEMON).

Mother Box gets an entry, inked by Mike Royer. Simple enough image of three styles of Mother Box, with backgrounds of the use of it at the hands of Orion, Scott Free and the Forever People.

New Genesis gets a page, inked by Greg Theakston. Four images of various scenes, including a nice one of the memorial statues, and a background of the destruction of New Genesis from THE HUNGER DOGS.

The New Gods get a great double page spread, inked by Theakston, with 29 characters in a big crowd scene (with, oddly, Fastbak being the largest one, right up front), as well as headshots of each.

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And the Newsboy Legion get a page, with a scene of the team back in Suicide Slum with their guardian, officer Jim Harper, inked by Karl Kesel.

Published June 1986

Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #144 [1971]

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Posted in Genre, Kid Gang, Superhero.

The second collection of Jimmy Olsen stories by Jack Kirby should be out this week, bringing all of the 1970s Fourth World stories by Kirby into print.

#144 will be among those issues. It opens with a Kirby cover inked by Neal Adams, featuring the Newsboy Legion and Jimmy Olsen, as well as Jimmy Olsen’s Pal, Superman, with a giant sea monster. Far-out!! indeed.

“A Big Thing In A Deep Scottish Lake” is a 22-page story inked by Colletta, with of course facial modifications by Murphy Anderson. Morgan Edge sends Jimmy and the Newsboys off to Scotland to investigate the Lake Trevor Monster, and directs his contacts at Intergang to take care of them.

Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #144 [1971]

And for once, Flippa’s scuba gear finally comes in handy, as he goes down to explore the lake, while their guide, Felix MacFinney, reveals himself to be an Intergang agent. Fortunately, they’re saved by the Scrapper Trooper (a miniature clone of Scrapper) and the timely arrival of the Loch Trevor monster, who looks to be a distant relative of Fin Fang Foom.

Meanwhile, Superman and the Guardian are invited to a new discotheque, where they encounter Dubbilex the DNAlien, Terry Dean and the San Diego Five String Mob.

“The Torn Photograph” is a two-page vignette giving some hints about some of the mysteries surrounding the DNA Project, stuff Kirby didn’t get a chance to fully explore, but many of which informed modern day Superman stories featuring the Project.

Back-up this issue is the cover and lead story from STAR-SPANGLED COMICS #10, the fourth Newsboy Legion story from 1942, “Kings For A Day”. It features the boys winning an election where kids run the city for a day. They take jobs as Mayor, DA, Police chief and Commissioner of Sanitation. Of course, they’re disappointed to find that they’re honourary positions, but still manage to foil various criminals, with some help of Jim Harper, the Guardian.

Published 1971

Tales to Astonish #52 [1964] – Cover

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Posted in Genre, Superhero.

TALES TO ASTONISH #52, 1964. After returning to Hank Pym’s adventures for a few issues to oversee his change from Ant-Man to Giant-Man (by changing his powers, although you could just as easily have had him join the army to become G.I.Ant-Man). Sol Brodsky, Marvel production manager extrordinaire, inked this one, and we get a nice Kirby winged horse.

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Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers #1 [1981]

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Posted in Genre, Science Fiction.

Okay, it’s not Kirby’s best series (although later issues did have moments of at least near-greatness), but CAPTAIN VICTORY has a bit of a soft spot in my heart as, I believe, the first non-reprint Kirby comic I bought (and among the first half-dozen Kirby books I bought, period). When it came out in late 1981 it had been three years since Kirby had left Marvel to work primarily in animation.

The history of the series is a bit convoluted, and best told in the CAPTAIN VICTORY GRAPHITE EDITION published by TwoMorrows. Short version, Kirby first did a 17-page first issue for a proposed Kirby Comics line in the late 1970s (and took the name of the lead from an even earlier unused concept, who eventually saw print as Captain Glory). When that fell through he modified it to a 50 page graphic novel, the first of a planned trilogy, partly by adding most of this first issue in front of the original story and continuing on from there. Eventually he was approached by Pacific Comics to launch their line, and split that graphic novel to make the first two issues of the series. Along the way there was also a film treatment written with Steve Sherman.

So, with a history like that, you can imagine why this reads a bit weird. The core of the story is that Victory leads a group of inter-stellar police who are battling against a insect-like race which conquers and invests inhabited planets. They get to one such planet too late, have to destroy it, but the leader of the Insectons, the Lightning Lady, escapes to Earth, where the Rangers follow.

As I said, far from great, but it’s not too bad. Mostly a bit rough in not explaining things. For example, Victory goes up on the bridge during the battle, despite his crew asking him not to, and it seems to be clear that because he’s wearing a “portable command post” on his head (a delightfully ridiculous mass of Kirby-tech) that he doesn’t need to be there. And then he dies three pages later (for the tenth time, apparently, as they have clone replacements), and his troops seem to defeat the enemy fine without him. I’m sure Kirby had a reason that he insisted on staying on the bridge, but he didn’t convey it in the script.

Unlike some, I’m usually a big fan of Kirby’s scripting, but this particular example has most of his weaknesses and few of his strengths. On the other hand, Lightning Lady, Egg Head, insanely huge spaceships and guns, Royer inks, there’s a lot to like, especially when I first read it as a kid (though, unfortunately, it would be years before I read the rest of it, as there weren’t any comic shops nearby. I’m still not certain how I got #1, if it had newsstand distribution or what).

Also in this issue, a brief biography of Kirby, with a photo, two pages of character, equipment and military insignia design, and a backcover of Lightning Lady and her Insectons.

Marvel Mystery Comics #12 [1940] – Cover

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Posted in Genre, Superhero.

MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS #12, 1940. One of Kirby’s early covers for Timely/Marvel, with Joe Simon, featuring the Angel. Very striking cover, with a great figure of the hero rushing into action and a classic “damsel in distress” type situation.

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No Kirby interior work in this issue, although with the next issue S&K would start doing stories about The Vision.

The Mighty Marvel Western #44 [1976]

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Posted in Genre, Western.

Marvel’s western comics lasted well into the 1970s, primarily as reprint vehicles, so a fair percentage of Kirby’s work on them from the early Silver Age got reprinted. This issue reprints one of the Kirby/Ayers stories from RAWHIDE KID #28, “Doom in the Desert”.

The Mighty Marvel Western #44 [1976]

Here we see the Kid’s typical gallantry bordering on stupidity, as he finds himself trapped in the desert and gives the last of his water to his faithful steed Nightwind. Following this he finds himself robbed and left to die by a thief, rescued by said thief’s sister and conflicted about his desire for revenge and his reluctance to cause pain to the gal who saved his life.

This issue also has reprints of Werner Roth and Joe Maneely western stories, and a great cover by Gil Kane loosely inspired by a scene in the Kirby story, reportedly one of Kane’s favourites among his covers.

Published 1976

Millennium Edition – Young Romance No. 1 [2000]

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Posted in Genre, Romance.

The logic of DC including YOUNG ROMANCE #1 among the books they reprinted in 2000 as part of their “Millennium Edition” line is suspect, but it was definitely the highlight of the line (only a handful of the other books were even in this league in quality, and most of them had seen several superior reprints over the years).

The original comic was published in 1947, launching a hughly successful line that Kirby would work on for a dozen years, with several spin-off titles (YOUNG LOVE, YOUNG BRIDES).

This issue had a Simon&Kirby cover, unrelated to any of the interior stories and telling a little mini-story all its own about an artist being seduced by his fiancée’s older sister, and three S&K stories, and two more by Bill Draut.

“I was a Pick Up” opens the book, with the story of Toni Benson, a high-school senior who is kept tightly in check by her grandmother, who fears Toni will wind up with a bad reputation like her mother. Of course, Toni rebels, and walks out in one of her mother’s old dresses. Having been so secluded, she falls for the pick-up line in the page below: “Pardon the greeting, lady, but it’s not often I see a dream — floating by –“.

Millennium Edition - Young Romance No. 1 [2000]

Naturally complications ensue (including a narrow escape from the police that involves overturning tables and jumping out of windows. S&K weren’t about to let the romance genre quell their trademark taste for action), and she finds that the guy who picked her up, unfortunately named Bob, had no respect for her since she was obviously so easy. Yet more complications ensue as she starts to date Stanley Budko, a local hoodlum, and finds herself with a reputation just like her mother. Quite a few twists in this 13-page story, but it ends happily at last, as they usually do in these books.

“Misguided Heart” features the working class love story of June Collins and Sherman Sherman (aka Ditto) and how it’s complicated by Karl Barton, the son of the boss. It’s a bit of an abrupt story at only 7 pages, but it’s a very attractive story, with the best art of these, and it a good look at the whole class struggle theme that is so often a part of these stories.

“Young Hearts Sing A Summer Song” is another class based conflict story, with a local girl in a resort town trying to win the attention of one of the wealthy vacationing boys. It doesn’t take much familiarity with the genre to know that doesn’t work out for her, and she ends up with one of her fellow “peasant” types. Not too bad, although the art seems a bit flatter than the other stories. Not sure if it’s just that the reproduction seems rougher or what.

There have been far too few reprints of Kirby’s romance comics work, and even most of those are hard to find (Eclipse’s REAL LOVE and some of Greg Theakston’s books). It was nice to see at least one example of it get somewhat wider distribution and still available at a very nice price.

Published 2000

Hi-School Romance #54 [1956] – Cover

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Posted in Genre, Romance.

HI-SCHOOL ROMANCE #54, 1956. A number of Kirby covers appeared on Harvey romance titles around this time. This one seems to be showing an awful lot of leg for the era, but no complaints from me.

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