Okay, the Whizzer is kind of lame, and that’s a really awful Wonder Man costume, but just look at that image of Doom, especially that arm (too bad the UPC symbol gets in the way there). Great little image of the classic Kirby villain. And while a bit wordy, I do always like the nod to the classic Marvel trope of villains betraying each other.

Inks by Al Milgrom.

Published 1977

Crackling energy dots at their finest and a good look at some of Thor’s Asgardian supporting cast in this Kirby/Sinnott cover. Makes me impatient to see what Sinnott’s new inks over Kirby’s old pencils will look like on FF – LOST.

Published 1977

This issue reprints the 24-page story and cover from SHOWCASE #12 [1958], the last of the four Challengers of the Unknown issues of the series before they got their own book. The Challs begin the story in flight in pursuit of the gang of Karnak. The criminals take refuge in the isolated island home of an archaeologist doing experiments on some ancient vials he found. As the Challengers approach, Karnak has his men drink the contents of the first vial, turning them into giants who go out and fight and are defeated by the Challs.

Two other vials release a fire monster and a sea monster, allowing Karnak to escape back to the mainland with the two remaining vials, one of which creates fifty clones of him which go on a crime wave. The Challs track down the real Karnak, who tries to escape using the final vial, which turns out just to be an antidote for the previous one.

The plot this time, especially the ending, is kind of a letdown, but along the way there are some cool things for Kirby to draw, especially the flame monster.

The art on this story seems to have been credited to every Kirby inker of the period at one time or another. DC seems to have settled on George Klein on their recent reprints.

Published 1971

Cap and the Falcon’s search for the “Big Daddy” Madbomb leads them to captivity in the underground lair of the New Society, where the traitors to the American way experiment in ways to rob people of their free will and make them workers for the rulers. There they meet the extremely creepy Cheer Chadwick, daughter of one of the leaders of the New Society.

Chadwick pulls rank on the soldiers and leads our heroes on a tour of the place, which culminates in a nightmarish vision out of Orwell (hence the title of the story) of a charismatic computer composite dictator on a screen whipping a crowd into a frenzy against freedom. She then tells Cap and the Falcon that they’ll have to participate in the Kill-Derby, although as a fight against the leader of one of the teams, Tinkerbell, shows, their obsolete notions of “fair play” won’t serve them well in the arena.

Definitely some crazy stuff, with Kirby exploring some of his favourite ideas in different ways while still keeping the action up there.

D. Bruce Berry inks the 17-page story and Frank Giacoia inks the cover.

Published 1976

The final issue of the series begins with Ikaris imprisoned by his cousin Druig, who is determined to find a weapon capable of destroying the Celestials hidden in the Pyramid of the Wind. Ikaris manages to escape after Druig departs, and pursues, while one of the Celestials also makes his way to the Pyramid.

Ikaris eventually realizes that he won’t be able to capture Druig alive and the weapon is disintegrated, killing Druig and starting a chain reaction that threatens to destroy the Earth. Fortunately, it turns out the Celestials are a lot more powerful than the Eternals had given them credit for, and Ziran of the Fourth Host is able to defuse the out-of-control energies of the weapon.

A somewhat satisfying ending to the series, at least not ending on an unresolved cliffhanger like so many Kirby endings. Obviously there was a lot more he wanted to do with the concepts, but that wasn’t to be, and the story at least hints at some of the themes of ancient secrets and mankind’s final destiny that drive the series.

Mike Royer inks the 17-page story and Frank Giacoia inks the cover.

Published 1978

This issue opens up with one of the great FF scenes, the team unwinding by playing baseball in Wakanda after their recent adventure with the Black Panther and Wyatt Wingfoot. Meanwhile we also catch up with the Inhumans, still trapped behind the barrier created by Maximus, where Black Bolt tries various ways to free them, perhaps at the cost of his own life.

As the FF prepare to depart from Wakanda, Johnny decides to go try to free Crystal and the Inhumans, with Wyatt joining him in a Gyro-Cruiser lent to them by the Panther.

On their way the boys get caught in a sandstorm and find an elaborate underground crypt…

That’s a great looking sculpture guarding the door. Anyway, inside they find a 700 year old knight from the court of King Richard, Prester John, who relates some of the lands he saw in his wanderings, ending with the city of Avalon, which was destroyed for some unexplained reason, leaving him in the Chair of Survival where Johnny found him, with the Evil Eye device possessing amazing powers. Johnny, always the jerk, decides the Evil Eye is his key to freeing Crystal, so he steals it with no explanation, not realizing it’s still powered and set to explode. Wyatt and Prester John pursue, knocking the device out of the Torch’s hand just before it explodes like an A-Bomb.

It’s a bit of a filler issue (doesn’t look like Prester John even shows up again for another decade), and Johnny’s behaviour is even worse than normal, but otherwise a lot of fun, especially the backgrounds on thinks like Wakanda, Avalon and Prester John’s travels.

Joe Sinnott inks the cover and 20-page story.

Published 1966

Marvel was in the middle of Marvel’s “single issue stories” experiment, which wasn’t really playing to the strength of the whole Marvel way of doing things. Thor returns as Don Blake to his office, where he’s met by Jim North, Jane Foster’s new boss, who brings news that Jane has been kidnapped by Kronin Krask, who wants North to perform a forbidden operation for him. North has come to see if Don Blake can contact Thor to help.

Meanwhile, Odin takes a look around at where everyone is, using his Enchanti-Scan. The odd mix of mythical and high-tech in Asgard always confuses me…

It turns out that Krask wants North to perform a mind-transplant, and the body he wants for his mind is Thor, who he knew North would contact. Thor is captured and the mind-exchange is attempted, which leads to a battle of the embodied egos of Thor and Krask, which Thor wins, killing Krask in the process.

Not the greatest story (although with a few ideas that came together a bit better in some Fourth World stories). Bill Everett inks the 20-page story and cover, and that looks really nice.

Published 1970

A reprint of the cover and Captain America story from TALES OF SUSPENSE #80 [1966] in this issue, as Cap rescues an AIM agent who was blown out of the sky pursuing a traitor who is bringing the powerful Cosmic Cube to the Red Skull. SHIELD is able to help Cap quickly catch up to the AIM traitor, and they both land on the Skull’s island.

The Skull plays dirty, using the information that he was behind the WWII plan of Zemo that resulted in Bucky’s death, to distract Cap long enough for a sneak attack, giving him a chance to get possession of the Cube.

Great little story, although a bit jumpy in this form with two pages edited out for the sake of stingy 1970s page counts. It’s interesting how some of the descriptions of the power of the Cosmic Cube read like rough versions of the Anti-Life Equation. Don Heck handles the inking on the now 8-page story and cover, and that’s always a pleasing combination (Kirby must have thought so as well, since it wasn’t long after this that he hired Heck to ink the presentation pieces that led to the Fourth World books).

Published 1974

In T’Challa’s storyline this issue he continues on his way home, now stuck in Sudan carrying around an injured crime boss. He finds himself on the set of a science fiction movie which is not unlike STAR WARS. Okay, it’s a lot like STAR WARS. Anyway, he’s eager to leave instead of being detained by questions from the police coming for the crime boss, so he causes some chaos on the film set in order to steal a jeep and continue on his way home. Which seems a bit rude to me, given that they, you know, saved his life in the desert, but I guess that’s how royalty behaves. He finds himself pursued by a plane, which he surrenders to with obvious plans to take it to finish his journey.

Meanwhile, in Wakanda…

Jakarra is on the rampage, having been mutated by the vibranium. Fortunately, the four members of the royal family called in as the “Black Musketeers” are able to subdue him, although not without their expenses upsetting T’Challa’s regent N’Gassi. The young doctor among the Musketeers, Joshua Itobo, also refuses to take N’Gassi’s advice to kill Jakarra to end his threat, which proves to be a mistake when Jakarra further mutates and escapes and heads for the vibranium mound and sure doom for the Earth.

The Musketeers are a lot of fun, unfortunately not really developed that much in the few issues they had, but with a lot of potential. And the set of the sci-fi film had some nice goofy Kirby designs with some playful ribbing of STAR WARS.

Mike Royer inks the 17-page story, not sure who inks the cover.

Published 1978

Doesn’t Kang look great on this cover, inked by John Romita in his first job on his return to Marvel? It looks even better in the original version (which you can see here as part of an interview in ALTER EGO, or in the various reprints), before Kang’s outstretched hand was moved for some inexplicable reason.

I always love these symbolic giant menace covers by Kirby. Not just the huge villain but the reactions of the heroes in the foreground.

Published 1965