This issue concludes the battle with alien robot invader Ten-For, as Machine Man is convinced to fight for Earth by a cab driver, Barney Bates, thanks to some words of wisdom about pie. I’m sure Kirby meant something more profound by it, but I can never read that scene (“I’m not tellin’ you your business, Machine Man, but if you save the pie, you’ve got the thanks of Barney Bates”) and not think I’m reading the world’s longest Hostess ad. A lot of the dialogue in this issue is pretty strange, actually. “I never dance at funerals — especially when the corpse is still warm”, “I’ve a right to singe their ears with napalm”

Mike Royer inks the 17-page story. Kirby’s cover for the issue wasn’t used, it appears in KIRBY COLLECTOR #15, and Walt Simonson does a good job on the published cover, I think the only non-Kirby cover to appear on one of Kirby’s new 1970s Marvel comics.

Published 1978

As part of the revolving door of art teams for the first year of SHIELD stories, Joe Sinnott takes a turn at finishing Kirby’s layouts for this 12-page story, where we find Nick prisoner of Hydra, who are holding the world hostage to their orbital bomb. Tony Stark has developed a Braino-Saur, which can diffuse the bomb, while Dum Dum and Gabe lead the rescue mission for Nick.

Of course, Fury isn’t sitting still, and manages to use his explosive shirt and Hydra’s high-tech meals to blow his prison, and escape with the help of the Supreme Hydra’s daughter. Very James Bond of him.

I like Sinnott’s work here, although I’m more glad he didn’t stick with SHIELD and continued inking FF for the next few years.

This issue also has one of the more unusual Marvel covers of the 1960s. They took a stat of the splash page, and the cover has a Doctor Strange figure (I believe by Marie Severin) holding it. I wonder if there was a real cover done that wasn’t used for some reason? I don’t think one has ever shown up in the fanzines.

Published 1965

Two Kirby reprints in this issue. “I Was the Invisible Man” is from STRANGE TALES #67 (1959), a 7-page story inked by Christopher Rule. And there’s another one of those hands across the chin I mentioned a while back.

This story involved a young scientist coming up with a device that enables him to move at incredibly fast speeds, effectively invisible to the human eye. He craves fame, and decides to operate in secret for a while, creating a national sensation about an “Invisible Man”, before revealing himself. Unfortunately he doesn’t count on the side-effects of his untested process, which prematurely age him. A nice story, with a lot of inventive visual effects, and a nice change from the giant monster stories that dominate these reprints.

Not that I don’t loves me some giant monsters, as seen in the second Kirby reprint, the Kirby/Ayers “Goom, The Thing from Planet X”, a 13-page story from TALES OF SUSPENSE #15 (1961). A scientist mocked for his theories about life on hidden nearby worlds experiments in a secluded area, getting the attention of the monstrous Goom, who plans to conquer the Earth. The scientist returns to his lab and contacts more of Goom’s people, and is branded a traitor to humanity, only to be saved as it’s revealed Goom is an outcast from his otherwise peaceful race. Rather odd ending speech, about how humanity has nothing to fear from alien contact, since any species advanced enough will surely be peaceful, considering how many Kirby stories and essays run counter to that, in fact are based on the opposite view.

Published 1974

Another debut issue without a follow-up (although parts of the story were later integrated into the greater DC Manhunter mythos by other creators). The story opens up with a bang, as the Manhunter confronts Chopper, a killer obsessed with his cave of disembodied heads and masks. Some weird images in those pages.

We find out that this Manhunter is aging, and fears he might be the end of a long line of Manhunters, but fate intervenes, giving public defender Mark Shaw an ancient lion medallion, so he becomes the new Manhunter and plans to take care of mob boss The Hog.

D. Bruce Berry inks the 18-page story, and the cover is a modified version of the splash page (flipped and with a few other changes). Kirby also writes a text page for the back.

Published 1975

Devil Dinosaur makes a brief trip to modern day Nevada in this final issue of the series, as he falls into a mysterious time-warp in the forbidden pits of the Valley.

Fortunately, with the help of the Hag and her son, Moon-Boy is able to bring Devil back where he belongs, and they depart for greener places. As did Kirby, with this issue marking the end of his 1970s tenure at Marvel, moving to animation full time for the next few years. “…and thus endeth the Chronicle…”

Seeing Devil rampaging through modern America is pretty cool, although I thought that less was done with this story than I’d have hoped for. Another victim of the tiny page counts of the era, I guess.

Mike Royer inks the 17-page story and John Byrne inks the cover.

Published 1978

My own commentary on posts is going to be a bit briefer than normal for the next little while.

This issue of KAMANDI, titled “Killer Germ”, concludes the trip down to South America and the Tracking Site where Ben Boxer and his companions come from. Down there they find giant savage bats, mutant germs and a mental freak. Kamandi also gets to see a tape of Ben Boxer’s father, explaining some of their experiments and how it led to the powers Ben, Steve and Renzi share.

This is one of my favourite issues of KAMANDI, with lots of crazy sci-fi and horror concepts, non-stop action and lots of great artwork.

Mike Royer inks the cover and 20-page story.

Published 1973

This extra-sized issue of CAPTAIN VICTORY concludes the war on Earth against the Insectons in the 25-page “Victory is Sacrifice”. It’s a bit of a mixed bag, with some really good images and bits, but not really living up to the full potential of the story. The epic sequence where Captain Victory sacrifices his life in the “Drainer” to defeat the Insectons would have been more effective if we didn’t know he had a few lives in reserve.

Following the story is a 2-page spread introducing the Wonder Warriors, villains of the next phase of the story.

After that is the final 5-page chapter of the Goozlebobber story, which is as strange as that title makes it sound like. The Goozlebobber deals with the police, but then scares the family that befriended him with his shape-changing, so he goes off to explore, taking the form of the then-president.

Yeah, I know….

The back cover has an image of Captain Victory’s newest clone being activated by the Memory Storage Unit, ready for new adventures.

Mike Thibodeaux inks the Kirby art in this issue, all 34 pages of it.

Published 1982