Monthly Archives: November 2004

Rawhide Kid Special #1 [1971]

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Posted in Genre, Western.

This double sized comic from 1971 reprints seven Kirby/Ayers stories from RAWHIDE KID issues of the early 1960s, for a total of 47 pages (with a non-Rawhide solo Ayers 5-pager thrown in as well).

This much Rawhide Kid in one go kind of gets old fast, with the constant theme of just how good a gunman the Kid is, and how revered/feared an outlaw he is. But there is still some interesting variety within the genre.

“Gun Duel In Trigger Gap” (RK #19) features the Kid actually falling in love and wishing he could settle down, but of course his outlaw status gets in the way, and he acts heroically in the end to beat some bad guys and leave his potential sweetheart behind.

“Fight Or Crawl, Kid” (RK #19) has the Kid confronted by someone who thinks he can outgun him, demonstrating some impressive shooting, which of course the Kid out-does with no effort.

“The Little Man Laughs Last” (RK #29) has a great splash of the Kid jumping from his horse to a stage-coach. In this one, he demonstrates his bravery compared to some bigger men, but apparent fear of women.

“The Fallen Hero” (RK #29) is the Shane-variation, where the a young boy admires the Kid above his own father. I think anyone who’s read/watched enough westerns knows where that leads.

“The Trail Of Apache Joe” (RK #29) has the Kid given one of his periodic chances to clear his name, if he helps bring in the outlaw of the title. If you don’t guess that he manages to do the bringing in, but not the name-clearing, you really need to read more westerns…

“The Guns Of Jasker Jelko” (RK #28) the Kid goes up against a travelling carnival’s trick shooter this time, a fine enough story made memorable by the joke ending about Annie Oakley.

Rawhide Kid Special #1 [1971]

“When A Gunslinger Gets Mad” (RK #28) is the last story, which features the Kid walking into a bar and ordering a milk. As it almost invariably did in the old west, this led to a good old fashioned barroom brawl, as cowboys tended to take lactose intolerance to ridiculous extremes.

Dead Of Night #10 [1975] – I Dream of Doom

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Posted in Genre, Horror/Fantasy.

This 1970s reprint anthology contains the 7-page Kirby/Rule story from STRANGE TALES #96, “I Dream of Doom”. In this story, a man goes to a doctor with a story about being haunted by a giant Kirby monster in his dreams, always escaping just in time. In a stunning breach of professional ethics, the doctor says he’ll give the man something to stay awake, but slips him a sedative instead. This leaves the man to become a victim of the monster, and reveals a twist ending that calls into question the nature of reality.

Dead Of Night #10 [1975]

Just about all the Kirby monster stories of this era look good, and this one is no exception, with some a nice looking monster, some very good storytelling in and out of the dream sequences and some very nice inking. Pleasantly, this is also one of the better written of the stories, with a fairly clever resolution and several interesting bits. I’d love to see it reprinted in a more permanent edition some day (as I put together a dream MARVEL VISIONARIES JACK KIRBY v2 in my head…).

Published 1975

Shocking Tales Digest #1 [1981]

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Posted in Genre, Horror/Fantasy, Science Fiction.

A bit of an oddity, for some reason in 1981 Harvey published a single issue of SHOCKING TALES DIGEST, containing reprints of late 1950s horror/fantasy stories, primarily by Jack Kirby and Bob Powell. I don’t think they published anything else in the period like it, most of their comics at the time being the humour books like Richie Rich and Casper.

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The Kirby contents are nine stories that add up to 42 pages, all of his work (except one cover) from the first two issues of ALARMING TALES in 1957. It’s interesting stuff, with great art and stories with a lot of themes that Kirby would show an interest in throughout his career, although of course dealt with in a cursory manner with no more than six pages per story.

“Logan’s Next Life” is a two page short about re-incarnation. Apparently you keep your birthmarks between incarnations.

“The Cadmus Seed” (also recently reprinted in THE JACK KIRBY READER v2) is a silly little story with some interesting use of cloning, echoing some later JIMMY OLSEN stories. I also just noticed that there’s a line in here which sounds suspiciously like one of the best lines in an Alan Moore Swamp Thing story and a scene which looks like it could have inspired the Gaiman/McKean version of Black Orchid.

“The Fourth Dimension is a Many Splattered Thing” is goofy, mostly notable for Kirby getting to draw some nice cubist/surrealist landscapes for a few pages.

“The Last Enemy” is probably the most interesting story in here from a “Kirby’s other work” perspective, since there are clear hints of Kamandi’s world. In this version, a man goes to the future in a time machine, to find a world where men have been destroyed by atom bombs and intelligent animals have taken over, all of whom would fit in perfectly in a Kamandi story.

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Also interesting is that the villains of the piece are the rats, who have dug a tunnel system under the earth as part of the plan their eventual takeover, which resonates with themes in Kirby’s unfinished novel, THE HORDE.

“Donnegan’s Daffy Chair” features a flying chair, which of course evokes Metron of the New Gods and his Mobius Chair. The rest of the story doesn’t, but it’s some goofy fun, with a good sense of humour.

“Hole in the Wall” features an old newspaper employee who dreams of fanciful travel, gets fired and finally realizes his dreams. This is, I think, the best of the stories here, with some wonderfully evocative images of the times, as well as some nice fantasy images.

“The Big Hunt” goes back to merely silly, with a story about a man who goes to the fifth dimension in an experiment and hunts there. The big interest is Kiry dreaming up some wild fantasy animals.

“The Fireballs” is a UFO story, with people seeing mysterious balls of flame in the sky. I’m still not sure I understand exactly what happens in this story.

“I Want to Be a Man” giant robots, Kirby style, in a fun little story which seems to be inspired by Asimov’s short stories of this period. Great splash page of the robot, which was also used on the backcover of the digest.

Lots of other fun stuff besides, and fairly well printed given the digest size, this probably isn’t too easy to find, but worth picking up if you do. A shame Kirby’s other work for Harvey from the era (including a few more ALARMING TALES stories, several issues of BLACK CAT MYSTIC and some science fiction and war comics) hasn’t been reprinted.

This Hostage Cover

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Posted in Gallery.

Some more random covers from scattered years. Did you know that there are about 400 Jack Kirby covers for books that didn’t have Kirby interior work? Just so you don’t think there’s any danger of running out…

GREEN HORNET #9, 1942. Gorgeous early cover done for Harvey Comics, with a nice “ugly mobster” type and an interesting composition.

AVENGERS, THE #12, 1965. Great looking Chic Stone inked cover of the team. I especially like the classic Kirby pose of Giant-Man’s hand there.

CAPTAIN GLORY #1, 1993. From the “coulda been a contender” file, this illustration dates from the same time as the concept art that would evolve into the Fourth World characters, apparently at some point known as Captain Victory. The character remained unused, although his name did go on to bigger things in the 1980s. Finally, when Topps licenced some Kirby concepts in the 1990s for their shortlived “Kirbyverse” line, this great looking piece of art saw print, with some fine Ditko art inside.



Forbidden Tales Of Dark Mansion #6 [1972]

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Posted in Genre, Horror/Fantasy.

Another story originally meant for SPIRIT WORLD #2, this one is about a man who has psychic abilities, and uses them to help the police solve crimes.

forbid

This is an interesting story, reads like something out of a 1950s issue of BLACK MAGIC, with a few pretty gory scenes and sudden violence. The art is what makes it, with sharp inks by Mike Royer really capturing the setting and the dark mood.

Also in this issue is a one page text feature on the subject of psychic mysteries, with a Kirby collage on the borders.

Published 1972

Who’s Who – The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #2 [1985]

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Posted in Genre, Superhero.

Kirby did four pieces for this issue of WHO’S WHO, all inked by Greg Theakston.

Beautiful Dreamer of the Forever People is up first, and is the best looking one this issue, with some nice images of her, including one of her conjuring up one of her illusions.

Ben Boxer from Kamandi is up next, showing how he transforms with his cyclo-heart.

Big Barda from Mister Miracle is here, too, although I would have expected a stronger image given some of the great Barda art from the 1970s. This one is just okay.

Another Forever Person, Big Bear, is the last Kirby entry in this issue, with some nice images of him and the super-cycle, one of those great Kirby vehicles.

The Silver Surfer [1978] (Graphic Novel)

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Posted in Genre, Superhero.

Kirby drew this 100 page graphic novel on his return to Marvel in the 1970s, re-uniting with his long-time FANTASTIC FOUR collaborative team. It’s an interesting book, and well worth hunting down a copy for the Kirby/Sinnott art alone. There’s something just so elegant and powerful about the way Kirby draws the Surfer, and Sinnott brings it out as good as anyone.

The final panel of this page, of a Surfer monument made by a tribe he passed by one his travels, is one of my favourite images from that entire era of Kirby’s career.

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The story re-tells the coming of Galactus story, without the Fantastic Four. In this version, the Surfer finds Earth, decides to defy Galactus, who exiles him to Earth. The Surfer explores humanity, and then Galactus attempts to win him back, using a golden female creation of his, Ardina, who both seduces him and tries to convince him of the worthlessness of humanity. Also in the mix is an interesting character, Galactus’ Master of Guile (called the “Devil’s Advocate” in Kirby’s character design printed in THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #22), who represents the dark side of Galactus.

The biggest problem in this book is probably that the structure of the story seems to require Kirby’s original concept of the Surfer, as a creation of Galactus, while the whole Zenn-La, Shalla Bal nonsense is shoe-horned in (in a two page flashback sequence that doesn’t make much sense and constantly in the dialogue). It just doesn’t work. Taking that out and mentally adjusting, and taking out some of the more flowery excesses of the script, and it works a lot better.

This book also has a non-Kirby cover painting, which isn’t too good, based on a far better Kirby image, printed in THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #9. Also in here are bios of the creators, with a great photo of Kirby, oddly with a pipe rather than the cigar he’s usually associated with.

The book was reprinted by Marvel in the late 1990s, I think with a different cover based on one of the interior images, but I don’t have a copy to verify that.

Western covers

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Posted in Gallery.

Here are a nice trio of covers for Western comics from through the years.

PRIZE COMICS WESTERN #75, 1949. From right in the middle of the S&K years, this is a nice sample of their work, with some gorgeous inking and all sorts of great classic western cliche touches.

WYATT EARP #25, 1959. Christopher Rule is the attributed inker, and it’s a pretty cover. The background figures are what make it for me, especially the guy seemingly intent on climbing on top of the saloon.

RAWHIDE KID #36, 1963. Dick Ayers inks, and a great set-up for the interior story.



New Kirby – Marvel Masterworks Avengers v4

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Posted in New Kirby.

Okay, this will be one of the most obscure new Kirby reprint mentions you’ll ever see. There’s a new Marvel Masterworks out, the fourth Avengers volume. The Kirby content of it is the cover of AVENGERS #33, where Kirby drew the background characters only, and the cover of AVENGERS #35, where the Captain America figure is lifted from a TALES OF SUSPENSE story.

Also, just for completeness, the recent AVENGERS #503 apparently reprints three pages from AVENGERS #16, as well as a few Kirby panels in some collage pages of Avengers history. No comment on the rest of the book, except to say there are far better ways to get those Kirby pages.

What If #11 [1978]

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Posted in Genre, Superhero.

One of the sillier concepts of all time, this features Kirby and others from Marvel in the 1960s transformed into the Fantastic Four, with the on-the-nose title of “What If… The Fantastic Four Were the Original Marvel Bullpen?”. Kirby is cast as The Thing, of course.

What If #11 [1978]

It’s all delightfully goofy, with a few gentle shots taken at the man playing Mr. Fantastic. And it was good to see Kirby getting one last pseudo-shot at writing and drawing a Fantastic Four story.

Joe Sinnott inked the cover, while Mike Royer and Bill Wray inked the 34 interior pages.