This issue of reprints the contents of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #8 (1964), including the 6-page Kirby/Ditko backup story. Oddly, Spidey knows that Doris Evans is the Torch’s girlfriend in this issue, but doesn’t recognize her when he meets her a year later in ASM #21. Anyway, a great example of an early Marvel crossover story, with Spidey deciding to tease the Torch, quickly finding himself in way over his head before the rest of the FF intervene, finally being pacified by Sue. Nice artwork, too, except the reprint loses some of the finer linework, which especially makes the webbing and the Thing look splotchy.

Published 1982

MARVEL PREMIERE #35 – April 1977, inked by John Verpoorten (with background panels from the interior art by Jim Craig and Dave Hunt). Not a bad character to go with Kirby’s style, though a bit bland, and the back-story and premise presented in this issue is truly mind-numbing stuff. And I’m not sure why you’d do a 3-D Man comic that, y’know, isn’t in 3-D.

FANTASTIC FOUR #200 – November 1978, inked by Joe Sinnott. The last time Kirby would draw the FF for Marvel (although he would draw story-boards for a cartoon after this, and some of those boards would be taken and turned into a comic a few years later). A simple enough cover, but effective. Shame it only has one of the four team members, though. Nice that we got one final Doom cover by Kirby, though.

“The Big Boom” concludes the big battle with the Four-Armed Terror, unleashed on The Project by the Evil Factory. The Terror is a great villainous monster, which is probably why Kirby did a bunch of sketches with various characters (including the Hulk) battling him.

This story has a 15-minute countdown to the blow-up at the Project’s atomic power plant as the Terror closes in, and Superman has to race through to stop it, while the Guardian and adult version of the Newsboy Legion are in pursuit. The funniest part of the issue is probably the scene with Morgan Edge, being told to flee the city by his Intergang contacts, not caring at all about anyone on his staff.

It’s exciting stuff, but a bit off. Kirby originally had some other plans for this storyline, which apparently didn’t match what DC had planned in their other books. Mark Evanier eventually used some of those plans as the basis for his LEGENDS OF THE DC UNIVERSE #14 story with Steve Rude a few years back.

Vince Colletta inks the 23-page story, with the Superman characters adjusted by Murphy Anderson. Neal Adams inks the cover, which features one of Kirby’s collages, looking much better on cover stock than they usually did on newsprint (including the two-page spread with a collage in this issue).

Published 1971

This story is available in JIMMY OLSEN ADVENTURES BY JACK KIRBY v1.

BOMBAST #1, April 1993 – The characters for the Topps Kirbyverse comics were taken from unused character designs that Kirby had done some time prior, so the covers taken from those designs are are a bit bland, with just the figures on a crackly background rather than any story-related content. But they still work, with a nice kinetic pose on this Bombast figure (okay, so it kind of looks like a bowling pose) and some nice bold solid linework. The character always looked to me me like something halfway between the Eternals and the New Gods. Don’t know who inked this piece, but it’s very well done (some places credit Kirby with the inks, but I don’t see it).

INCREDIBLE HULK ANNUAL #5 cover, 1976, inked by Jack Abel (with some re-drawing of some of the monsters apparently by John Romita) – Neat to see Kirby drawing a bunch of the old monsters again, even for just some small figures on a cover. Groot and “Titan” (originally of course called the Hulk) are in especially fine form, if not quite coloured as they were originally.

AIRBOY v4#4, 1947, Simon&Kirby, published by Hillman – Bit of an oddity, S&K draw the title character and no interiors on this issue, while none of the actual stories they drew in subsequent issues featured Airboy, but were “Link Thorne, Flying Fool” stories. Nice cover, I especially like those alligators, and the shading effect on the water.

NOVA #5, 1977, inked by Frank Giacoia, another one of those covers done in that era for non-Kirby characters. I kind of like Nova’s design, it’s very compatible with the Kirby look. The “Earth-Shaker” villain seems a bit ridiculous, though. I always think “robo-clown” when I first see this cover rather than “drilling machine”. Looks like good goofy fun, I guess, especially with the crowds fleeing / crowds in peril look so common in the old monster books.

With this issue MGC went from a general Marvel reprint title to all FF all the time, two stories per issue. Bit of an oddity in the transition, instead of continuing chronologically from where #28 left off (FF #36) this one goes back and reprints FF #12 (which had somehow skipped being reprinted before this) and FF #31 (which had just been reprinted in MGC #23 a year before). The chronological reprints resume next issue.

Anyway, from FF #12 (1963) is “The Incredible Hulk”, first published the same month as HULK #6, the final issue of the series. Apparently there was some confusion going on, as Kirby draws the Hulk with less than the regulation number of fingers and toes throughout the story, perhaps thinking of the Thing.

The story opens with Ben and Alicia walking home from the symphony when Ben is attacked by the army, who for some reason were looking for the Hulk in New York, and obviously had a bad description. The army is called off when a captain realizes the mistake, and later Thunderbolt Ross recruits the FF to destroy the Hulk, who seems to be destroying various missile installations. The FF take the newly redesigned Fantasti-Car to the desert, where they meet Bruce Banner and Rick Jones. Rick is soon taken hostage by the real saboteur, forcing Banner to become the Hulk and try to drive the FF out of the area, leading to the first Hulk/Thing battle, which is unfortunately short and inconclusive thanks to outside interference.

Dick Ayers inks the 23-page story.

“The Mad Menace of the Macabre Mole Man” is a 21-page Kirby/Stone reprint from FF #31 (1964), previously posted on from the original. Still a good story leading up to the best era of FF, although the reproduction of a few pages in this and the first story leaves a lot to be desired.

This issue also has a 6-page “photo album” feature, taking various pin-ups and panels from the history of the FF, with notes from “Sue”. The cover is the Kirby/Ayers cover from FF #12.

Published 1970