Monthly Archives: December 2004

Satan’s Six #1 [1993]

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I’m back.  Now on to SATAN’S SIX #1.

This is the only one of the Topps “Kirbyverse” books to actually feature more than just a cover by Jack Kirby (not counting the cards they were inevitably packaged with. I’ll have to dig those out and do an entry on the cards). There’s an 8 page Kirby story not-quite-seamlessly mixed in among the other pages. Single pages were inked by Steve Ditko, Joe Sinnott, Terry Austin and Frank Miller, while Mike Royer inked the remainder. There’s also a centerfold by Kirby of the main characters.

Kirby created the characters in the late 1970s for the unrealized “Jack Kirby Comics” line. The few pages he did set up the premise, a group of lovable losers from throughout history looking to get out of Purgatory and being sent to Earth. It would have been interesting to see exactly where Kirby would have gone with that. The actual series that was published had some fun stuff written by Tony Isabella, but the art was distractingly un-Kirby and just not very good.

For the Kirby pages, Royer and Sinnott are of course just about beyond reproach as Kirby inkers. Austin does a decent job, while Miller’s style was a bit too heavy, which is fine for a single page, I guess, just not something you’d like to see for any more than that. Ditko’s page is my favourite, as I always did like the Kirby/Ditko art of the early 1960s, and that devil character’s poses have some great classic Kirby elements.

ss1

The cover is Kirby inked by Todd McFarlane, although there’s a nicer version inked by Royer in one of the fanzines somewhere.

Published 1993