Category Archives: Genre

Thor #159 [1968]

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Posted in Genre, Superhero.

The lead story here is “The Answer at Last”. At last indeed. After six years, they finally decided to address the weird aspects of the Thor / Don Blake relationship. It was never quite clear early on if Thor was just Don Blake with powers or a true immortal Asgardian, and varied with the story. After a few issues of build-up, this issue finally explains that the Don Blake persona was all part of one of those Odinian schemes, this one to teach his son humility. Oddly enough, he says that “none can be truly strong unless they be truly humble”, given that he’s all-powerful and rarely shows even a trace of humility.

Thor #159 [1968]

As part of this story, there are flashbacks to the youth of Thor, showing the need for this lesson. First off there’s his accidental breaking of a treaty with the Storm Giants, which is also shown brilliantly on the cover. Another scene shows one of those classic Asgardian barroom brawls, including Volstagg, a wonderful slapstick comedy device.

Published 1968

The Sandman #2 [1975] – Cover

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Posted in Genre, Superhero.

Following the one-shot with Joe Simon the previous year, DC continued the new Sandman in an on-going book in 1975. Different creators on the interiors, but Kirby and Royer were there with the cover art.

Sandman2_74.jpg

Very nice Kirby style nightmare monster, and I like the strong, bold inking, which works very well with this unique colouring scheme, which helps the dream portion of the cover pop out.

Black Cat #57 [1956] – Cover

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Posted in Genre, Horror/Fantasy.

BLACK CAT MYSTERY #57, 1956. I can’t decide what I like best about this cover, the surreal concept, the fish taking notes or the fish with the slide projector controller. In any case, definitely one of my favourite of Kirby’s covers for Harvey in that period.

BlackCat57_73.jpg

Two-Gun Kid #55 [1960]

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Posted in Genre, Western.

This issue of TWO-GUN KID has a Kirby/Ayers cover, and in addition has the 5 page Kirby/Ayers short story “The Outlaw”, with no continuing characters (the Two-Gun Kid stories in this issue are by John Severin).

Two-Gun Kid #55 [1960]

“The Outlaw” is an excellent story, about a bank robber who manages to escape from the local sheriff, but the sheriff remains confident. Over the course of the story, the outlaw finds that he can’t do anything with his money for fear of being caught, and is under constant suspicion. Some very nice artwork, check out those faces in panels 2 and 6 of the scan.

Published 1960

Fantasy Masterpieces #2 [1966] – Fin Fang Foom

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Posted in Genre, Horror/Fantasy.

Fin Fang Foom is probably the epitome of the Kirby monster, both in look and name, oft reprinted and brought into the Marvel super-hero lore many times by subsequent creators.

FANTASY MASTERPIECES #2 reprints the original story, from STRANGE TALES #89 (1961). Inked magnificently by Dick Ayers, and for some reason coloured orange rather than the original green. I don’t usually pick splash pages to post, but this one is just too perfect.

Fantasy Masterpieces #2 [1966]

I just love that image, how Kirby mixes human and monster features with wild abandon to create something so memorable.

The story is about a resident of Formosa (Taiwan), derided as a coward by his father due to his his dedication to ancient studies rather than joining the army, acting as Red China prepares to invade by releasing the legendary beast Fin Fang Foom to unwittingly demolish the Red Chinese forces.

fin-fang-foomThe character also inspired what is perhaps the most absurdly wonderful bit of comic related merchandise ever.

This issue of FM also reprints a Don Heck story, “Orogo”, for which Kirby did the splash page. I wonder if he drew that first, or was asked to do it after the original was done to punch up the story a bit. The cover of this issue is a collage of images from the three stories reprinted.

Published 1966

Giant-Size Master Of Kung Fu #3 [1975]

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Posted in Genre, Other.

YELLOW CLAW was one of the books that Kirby did during his short stint at what became Marvel in the mid-1950s, before his longer run there starting in the late 1950s. Kirby did three issues (#2 – #4), each with four short stories with FBI agent Jimmy Woo foiling the plans of the Yellow Claw, often aided by the Claw’s very conflicted niece Suwan.

The stories in #2 were reprinted in two issues of GIANT-SIZE MASTER OF KUNG FU in the mid-1970s, although changing some lettering so that Jimmy is now an agent of SHIELD rather than the FBI.

The third issue reprinted “Concentrate on Chaos”, which has the Claw using a a crew of six mutants with mental powers to create havoc in the US. Kirby gets to do a nice Dali-esque page to show that. The stories all end rather quickly and aren’t that satisfying, but they do often have great visuals.

mokf3

Also reprinted in this issue is an untitled story where Jimmy is convinced to trail Suwan to the Claw’s HQ, only to be captured. For no good reason, the Claw just lets him go rather than killing him, but it’s kind of interesting that they toss him out of a boat in giant bubble, given Kirby’s later fascination with (and unfinished adaptation of) THE PRISONER.

House Of Mystery #199 [1972]

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Posted in Genre, Science Fiction.

In addition to Challengers of the Unknown and Green Arrow, Kirby’s stint at DC in the 1950s saw him do 30 short stories and some covers for the various fantasy and science fiction anthologies.

Several of those stories were reprinted in the 1970s, including this one in HOUSE OF MYSTERY #199.  Originally printed in MY GREATEST ADVENTURE #17 as “I Doomed the World”, here it’s called “He Doomed The World” to accommodate the introduction by host Cain.

hom199

The story is a typical not-entirely-plausible ending story, where a rich inventor is hypnotized by aliens to send four explorers to the extremes of the Earth in a plane to destroy the world. The art is excellent, though, with lots of detailed images. I especially like the panel highlighted in the scan there, where Kirby draws this incredibly good looking and complex statue. There’s really no reason for that to be there, but I kind of like that he goes to that extra effort.

Published February 1972.

Not Brand Echh #3 [1967] – The Origin of Sore

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Posted in Genre, Humour, Superhero.

NOT BRAND ECHH was of course Marvel’s title for self-parody. Kirby had stories in some of the early issues, doing parodies of the various characters he drew at Marvel (FF, Thor, Surfer), plus a, um, Forbush Man story.

I’m not a huge fan of the book. A lot of the parodies read to me a bit too much like someone read the “how to do a parody” strip in MAD #17 by Kurtzman and Wood, and didn’t quite get that it was a joke. But just by sheer volume there are always some good gags, and some of the art is good.

In #3 it was Thor who was up, under his gag-name of “Mighty Sore, Son of Shmodin”, against his arch-nemesis Hokey. Yeah, I know. Sore is kind of a good design, with a carpenter hammer, long blonde hair in braids, a chicken on his helmet and buttons that keep changing.

nbe3

Among the better gags in this one, I like the pile of newspapers with stories about Sore, except the Daily Bugle running “Spider-Man is a Fink” as the headline. The page shown above also has the expression “kirbyesque” referring to Hokey’s cannon, which might be the first time that expression was ever published. And for no explained reason, when the Warriors Three are shown, “Bullstag” has a sign on his chest saying “Legalize Potatoes”.

The 8 page story is inked by Frank Giacoia, who does a great job on it, very clear and faithful. The Kirby checklist notes an art assist to Marie Severin, which would seem to be the panel showing a crowd of tourists in Asgard, including caricatures of many celebrities of the day.

Published 1967

Buried Treasure #1 [1990] – The Mad White God of Palm Island

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Posted in Genre, Non-Fiction.

BURIED TREASURE was a reprint anthology of various Golden Age stories prepared by Greg Theakston for Caliber Press. A few issues had some Simon&Kirby era reprints.

This story was from the Hillman book REAL CLUE CRIME COMICS v2#7, 1947, and claims to be based on a true story (in fact, it’s “so amazing because it’s true!”). I have my doubts.

bt1

The story features an island off the coast of Australia, where the natives had chased off a white garrison and threatened the mainland. In response, one man is sent in (with his wife and a doctor) to dominate the tribe, which he’s able to do until things inevitably go wrong.

As I said, I doubt the truth of most of these “true story” comics, and this particular one is more unlikely than most (and perhaps a bit politically incorrect 50+ years early). It has some great S&K action from the era, and the black and white reproduction is sharp (though some of the greyscales are a bit dark).

Published April 1990

Who’s Who – The Definitive Directory Of The DC Universe #15 [1986]

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Posted in Genre, Superhero.

When DC published its first WHO’S WHO series of character profiles in the mid-1980s, they had Kirby pencil the art for most of the characters he created. That ended up being 43 entries. About two-thirds of them were inked by Greg Theakston, with the remainder inked by various others (including one with some rare DC work by Joe Sinnott). Nothing really great in them, maybe, but some nice looking stuff, and the last published versions of most of these characters that Kirby would draw.

#15 had two Kirby pieces. Metron, inked by Theakston, was a bit flat, with just Metron in his Mobius Chair as the main figure.

misterm

The other one was Mister Miracle, inked by Dick Giordano, and it’s pretty good. Solid dynamic main figure, some nice background figures. The shot of Scott Free without the mask is very nice.

Published May 1986