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.
Monthly Archives: October 2004
–Link– Oddball Comics by Shaw!
Posted in Links.
Scott Shaw! has written about hundreds of strange comics over the years, so you know that Jack Kirby would be well represented among his archives. Here are just a handful of the Kirby books he’s reviewed, many of which I won’t get around to here for a while, if ever:
Headline Comics
Kamandi
Omac
Devil Dinosaur
Dingbats
Jimmy Olsen
Blazing Six Guns
Boy Explorers Comics
Justice Traps The Guilty
Black Magic
Foxhole
Punch And Judy Comics
Race For The Moon
Thor #159 [1968]
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]](http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/kirby/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2004/10/Thor-159-1968.jpg)
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
–Link– Fred Hembeck
Posted in Links.
Fred Hembeck has a number of interesting things on his site. Most relevent to this weblog, he has many of his interpretations of classic comic book covers, along with long reviews of those issues and his memories of them, including of course a fair amount of Kirby books, such as FF ANNUAL #2.
The Sandman #2 [1975] – Cover
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.
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
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.
Various genre covers
Posted in Gallery.
A trio of covers from various genres.
BLACK MAGIC #14, 1952.
WARFRONT #28, 1956.
TWO-GUN KID #70, 1964.
Two-Gun Kid #55 [1960]
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]](http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/kirby/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2004/10/Two-Gun-Kid-55-1960.jpg)
“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
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]](http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/kirby/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2004/10/Fantasy-Masterpieces-2-1966.jpg)
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.
The 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
1940s Covers
Posted in Gallery.
CHAMP COMICS #18, 1941. Another wartime cover. Don’t try to think too much about how exactly the Liberty Lads got the jump on those Japanese pilots, much less how the Japanese pilots could attack Washington DC.
DARING MYSTERY COMICS #8, 1942. You gotta feel for Blue Diamond. Right there on the cover, but grouped in with “and others” in the blurb, which names the other five guys.
STAR SPANGLED COMICS #40, 1945. And boy, is that a complicated flying machine for robbing a bank. If it actually works, you could sell the patent for more than the bank robbery would haul in.
