Monthly Archives: January 2005

Devil Dinosaur #8 [1978]

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Posted in Genre, Science Fiction.

Another DD classic, this issue sees Devil and Moon-Boy out looking for Moon-Boy’s people, the Small-Folk, while they’re being tracked by the Dino-Riders, who are impressed that Moon-Boy has been able to tame such a large beast. As Moon-Boy finds his people and tries to convince them that Devil isn’t dangerous, the Dino-Rider’s attack.

Devil Dinosaur #8 [1978]

Devil is captured, and they attempt to break him with various types of physical and chemical abuse, but DD is having none of that. Meanwhile, Moon-Boy convinces his people to help drive the Dino-Riders out of the valley and leads the assault. Devil finally frees himself when the head Rider, Gray Tooth, is threatening Moon-Boy, and makes short work of Gray Tooth and his mount.

As usual for DD, the story is simple but fun, with some good excuses for action, and some nice scripting for Gray Tooth and the other Dino-Riders in this issue.

Mike Royer inks the 17-page story, and I was a bit surprised to find out when I looked it up on the Kirby checklist that Walt Simonson inked the cover. I don’t really see it, but then I’m familiar with Simonson’s more distinctive later style. It does look nice.

Published 1978

In The Days Of The Mob #1 [1971]

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Posted in Crime, Genre.

When he first went to DC in 1970, Kirby seemed to think that they’d be open to different ideas and new formats. Soon enough he’d learn that they weren’t, not so much. In the meantime he did produce a number of stories, some still unpublished, in the crime, horror and romance genres. All genres that Kirby had quite a bit of experience in, although at this point in his career it had been years since he’d done any substantial story-work in anything but super-heroes (except for two short horror stories he’d done for CHAMBER OF DARKNESS late in his Marvel days, which didn’t end well). DC ended up publishing two issues of this stuff in 1971, oddly under the “Hampshire Distributors” label (I’m not sure if anything else was ever published under that name).

Clearly crime stories fascinated him, as he showed in a memorable storyline for the FF shortly before. Let loose to work solo he came up with IN THE DAYS OF THE MOB. It’s your basic true-crime book, with a framing sequence set in Hell, with Warden Fry doing the hosting. Kirby pulls out some of the big guns for the first issue, Ma Barker, Al Capone and Pretty Boy Floyd.

The issue features 41 pages of Kirby comics, as inked by Colletta. Kirby apparently planned these to be colour stories, but instead they were printed in black and white format with a heavy grey inkwash, and for some reason no panel borders. The combination seems to deaden it somewhat, which is a shame as it’s really strong work otherwise. While I don’t know if it would have been successful at the time even if it was given a higher level of support and production, it’s strong work by Kirby, who was clearly into the subject matter, and his attention to period detail and scripting style really fit the material.

The book opens up with the no-nonsense Warden Fry exclaiming “Welcome to Hell”, and showing us through the section of Hell where mobsters serve their time, including a massive two-page spread of the teeming masses of the prison (and if there were this many after Colletta was done, imagine how many there were before). He then comes across Ma Barker, and tells her story about how she led her four boys into a life of crime and how they all died. Back in Hell we see various felons playing cards, with predictable results.

mob

We then meet Al Capone, allowing the Warden to launch into the story of “Bullets For Big Al”, where we see the story of a misguided attempt to overthow Capone in the Chicago mob. A fun story, it features another two-page spread of a lavish mob party, with a big band and dancing girls, before descending to some brutal violence.

Next up are some text features. Kirby writes a three page article with photo illustrations about the era, a sort of bizarre free-form essay called “The Breeding Ground” about era he grew up in. Meanwhile Evanier&Sherman write a two page article, “Funeral For a Florist”, with a small Kirby illustration for the header.

Back to the comics after that, as the warden leads us to a 1933 train station to witness “The Kansas City Massacre”, an attempt by “Pretty Boy” Floyd and others to help a prisoner escape gone wrong. Finally we get “Method of Operation”, a quick look at the story of “Country Boy” and how his affection for fishing and women led to his capture in New Orleans.

Sergio Aragones finishes up the book with two pages of cartoons, and there’s a large poster insert of a wanted poster for John Dillinger included. The cover is a mix of photo-collage and illustration, apparently inked by Frank Giacoia.

A finished second issue, inked by Mike Royer, was done but not published, although parts of it appeared in AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS and various fanzines. The inside back cover features an ad for it, with two great full pages of art from the “Ladies of the Gang” story and a panel from “A Room For Kid Twist”. For more about the series, including a page from #2 and comments by Mark Evanier, read this article from TJKC #16, ignoring the odd comment about Colletta’s inks for #1 being better than Royer’s for #2.

Published 1971

Who’s Who – The Definitive Directory Of The DC Universe #10 [1985] – Highfather

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Posted in Genre, Superhero.

Only one Kirby piece in this issue, a great image of Izaya, the Highfather, inked by Greg Theakston, with a symbolic representation of the exchange in “The Pact” in the background. Izaya is a fascinating character from the glimpses we get of him, never really explored outside of “The Pact”. Having his logo being written in flames on the Source Wall is a nice touch.

highfather

Published 1985

Fantasy Masterpieces #7 [1967]

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Posted in Genre, Science Fiction, Superhero.

Two Kirby reprints in this issue. First up is “Titan, The Amphibian From Atlantis”, from TALES OF SUSPENSE #28, a 7-page story inked by Russ Heath (I think the only time Heath inked Kirby). Looks very pretty, with a lot of the qualities that someone like Wallace Wood brought to the pencils of that period, without being quite as overpowering. Anyway, in this story a giant monster comes out of the waters and attacks New York, informing everyone telepathically that he’s an advance scout from Atlantis, which will invade, and promises riches to any human who will betray the secrets of humanity. One man, industrial giant John Cartwright, agrees, managing to escape with Titan just ahead of an angry mob. He’s branded a traitor by humanity, who put aside their national difference to prepare for the Atlantean invasion, not realizing that Cartwright has in fact sacrificed his own life by exaggerating. humanity’s technology to the creatures.

The other Kirby story goes back much further, to 1941, “Death Loads the Bases” from CAPTAIN AMERICA #7. 15 pages with Syd Shores inking, according to the Kirby Checklist. Not the sharpest reprint quality, really, and made worse by adjusting the layouts, adding space between panels to make the art fill the page. Anyway, in this story Steve Rogers and Bucky attend a Brooklyn Badgers game, only to see two of the players drop dead on the field. Cap spots a poison dart, and he and Bucky go after the masked Black Toad and henchmen and get soundly defeated. The next game Cap and Bucky take over as pitcher and catcher for the team, doing quite well. Which has to be embarrassing for the regular players. I mean sure, Cap has the super-soldier serum, but Bucky?

fm7

The Toad finally attacks, in the form of a bomb hidden in a baseball, and Cap and Bucky take him out and unmask him. This is far from the best written of the S&K Cap stories, and the reprint doesn’t really show off the line-art, but it does have some really nice action bits, as the quality of their layouts was improving by leaps and bounds in those early years. The baseball bits are especially well done in this story.

Published 1967

Journey Into Mystery #7 [1973]

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Posted in Genre, Horror/Fantasy, Science Fiction.

A pair of Kirby reprints from JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY v1 in this issue. First up is “The Scorpion Strikes”, inked by Paul Reinman, from #82. At a lab where they’re doing delicate experiments with radiation, the owners find that some of the lab boys are getting a bit clumsy (and unknowingly irradiate a scorpion in one mishap), so they hire a hypnotist to keep everyone calm. Soon after, that scorpion mutates to giant size, with telepathic abilities, and plans to take over the world. The hypnotist tries and fails to get the Scorpion under his spell, but soon after it finds itself in physical agony.

Journey Into Mystery #7 [1973]

And I have to say, Kirby drawing a scorpion screaming in agony is a pretty funny sight. Anyway, it consents to another radiation dose to end its pain, which un-mutates it. Turns out the hypnotist did a fake-out, intentionally failing his first attempt to catch the Scorpion off-guard later. Junk science wins the day!

The cover of this issue is also from JiM #82, for this story. It’s inked by Dick Ayers, and slightly modified (adding some shadows) and coloured very differently for this version. It seems the Scorpion was green first time around.

Ayers also inks the second Kirby reprint in this issue, “Won’t You Come Into My Parlor”, from JiM #80. In this story a European industrialist, Krumhausen, wants to take over a competitor, Zamora. He finds out that Zamora has a gypsy past and a bad heart. He comes up with an insane plot to shock Zamora to a heart attack, by building giant replicas of various rooms, inviting Zamora for dinner, drugging him and making him think that he shrunk. This works, surprisingly enough, but Zamora uses his mysterious gypsy powers to lay down a dying curse, so that Krumhausen finds himself shrunk for real, and attacked by his cat (which seems to be possessed by Zamora). Fun story, and I especially like Kirby’s drawing of elaborate European rooms and furnishings done on a large scale.

Also a very nice Ditko story in this issue, “Take A Chair”.

Published 1973

Fantastic Four #99 [1970] – The Torch Goes Wild

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Posted in Genre, Superhero.

Another sentimental favourite story, as one of the earliest Kirby stories I read (in an edited version in MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS). In a lot of ways I think this is really the last great FF story, as the next four that have Kirby art (including and especially the patch-job in #108) have various major flaws (but some good scenes).

I adore the opening splash page of this one, Ben practicing on skis in front of a mirror as Reed and Sue come in. I’ll even forgive the colouring mistake.

Fantastic Four #99 [1970]

We quickly find out that Johnny has left for the Inhumans’ Hidden City to try to persuade Crystal to return with him after Medusa had come to retrieve her several issues earlier. While the rest of the FF follow (with various complications, most of which were the pages edited out of the reprint I read first), Johnny reaches the Himalayas and begins to attack the Inhumans. Good old Kirby/Sinnott slam-bang hero-vs-hero action there, and the Inhumans are favourites of mine among the many creations from the FF. The rest of the team finally arrive and manage to cool down the Torch, and the Inhumans finally explain why Crystal had to return to help keep Black Bolt alive. No, there’s no real reason this couldn’t have been told to the Torch in the first place. Anyway, it’s a good old-fashioned action plot, with some nice character bits and a happy ending.

Published 1970

Teen-Aged Dope Slaves And Reform School Girls [1989]

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Posted in Crime, Genre.

This collection published by Eclipse brings together various crime and sensationalistic comics of the 1940s and 1950s. Two 13-page Simon&Kirby stories from Prize’s HEADLINE are among the featured stories, both featuring sexy girls lured into a life of crime. Black and white reconstruction on the stories was by Greg Theakston’s Pure Imagination.

“The Bobby Sox Bandit Queen”, from HEADLINE #27 (1947), is a great little story about a 16-year-old girl who gets caught up in crime thanks to her older boyfriend, leading to a cross-country crime spree of bank robberies, hostage takings and stolen cars, with the police on their tails the whole time. The story was also reprinted in the recent Jack Kirby Reader v2

“I Worked For the Fence” is from HEADLINE #28 (1948). In this saga, Monica Bell, a failed show-girl, is about to go back home from the big-city when she finds her suitcase has been switched with one full of jewels. Remembering a co-workers mention of a fence, “Buyer Busch”, she takes the jewels to him, finding out she was set-up by him as a likely prospect for a “switcher” as he explains the inner workings of his operation. She takes the job and makes some easy switches, and then works as a buyer at the racetrack. She’s spotted by a private investigator, who she quickly falls in love with him, but almost gets caught when her next buy turns violent.

dope

She tried to quit but finds she’s already in too deep, but is rescued by her new beau, and is now serving her time in jail, determined to live life straight when she gets out. Because, if you haven’t learned by now, Crime Never Pays.

Other stories include “Lucky Fights It Through”, a Harvey Kurtzman comic about syphilis, “Teen-Aged Dope Slaves”, from the Rex Morgan strip, plus other tales of drugs, sex and violence.

Published 1989

Cover editing follies

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Posted in Admin.

Thanks to regular commenter Nick (who’s provided some interesting observations on inking identification on various old posts) for providing the material for this entry. The cover to THOR #148 back in 1968 had some redrawing going on with the Thor figure. Thanks to a 1970s Italian reprint, you can see what the the original looked like.


Yes, it’s another one of those where we can all stand mystified that the re-drawing was deemed necessary, or even worth the time. No agreement on who did the modifications. The Kirby checklist lists Marie Severin, Nick is thinking Romita/Verpoorten.

And thanks to commenter Greg for mentioning that the original was auctioned a few years ago. Click for a big scan of the original artwork, or visit the original auction, where you can see that this puppy sold for almost $10,000.


Argosy #2 [1990] – Street Code

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Posted in Genre, Non-Fiction.

This unique story from the Kirby oeuvre was drawn in 1983, but not published until 1990, in the second issue of Richard Kyle’s revival of the genre fiction magazine ARGOSY. It’s 8 pages, written and drawn by Kirby, reproduced straight from the pencils.

Kirby’s working class youth in 1920s New York obviously inspired a lot of his work over the years, in particular the kid gang classic Newsboy Legion and the various crime books from HEADLINE up to IN THE DAYS OF THE MOB, but here it was given a chance to move out of the background. This story is as rich with atmosphere as any Kirby ever drew, like the rich detail of the apartment in this page.

argosy

I like how he fills every corner of the drawing with a small detail, obviously emulating how crowded it felt, and how full of affection it is.

Latter in the story is one of Kirby’s best two-page splash panels ever, showing a street scene from his youth. Again full of details, small touches of humour and interesting action, a great image of the past.

While more a vignette, or perhaps an opening chapter in a never-produced graphic novel, than a complete story, it’s a very satisfying piece, with interesting insights into what growing up in that kind of atmosphere meant, how people related, and how the followed the self-imposed “Street Code” of the title. There are some interesting moments of violence in it, probably no worse than in his many crime, horror and super-hero stories through the years but somehow much more brutal and real because of the context.

The story was reprinted, re-lettered and with slightly better reproduction of the pencils, as the lead piece in the TwoMorrows published autobiography themed anthology STREETWISE in 2000.

Published 1990

The Demon #1 [1972] – Unleash the One Who Waits

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Posted in Genre, Horror/Fantasy.

I might be biased, because this story was one of the first handful of Kirby stories I read (in an early 1980s digest reprint), but I think THE DEMON #1 is one of Kirby’s strongest art jobs in the 1970s. It’s just a gorgeous book, with Kirby really throwing himself into the job. Starting off with a splash page of Merlin, then an amazingly detailed double page spread leading to the fall of Camelot, onto great scenes in the modern age, including the antiques in Jason Blood’s home and the gargoyles in Merlin’s lair.

The Demon #1 [1972]

This is a great first issue, setting up some of the background of the character in the mythic past, then launching in the modern age. Lots of great new characters, in particular Jason Blood, who promises a rich history, and Etrigan, who just seems to move in such a unique way when drawn by Kirby. Morgaine Le Fey is also a nicely ornate Kirby villain design.

Fortunately by this time Mike Royer was handling all the inking for Kirby, and had really gotten into the swing of things. Also helping out here, at the time DC was giving a few more pages of story, 24 in this issue, and that really let Kirby’s work breathe more than the incredibly shrinking counts of the later years.

Kirby also writes a text page for this issue, “A Time To Build”, mostly about the cancellations of the Fourth World books, as well as plugging this new one and the upcoming KAMANDI. It’s an odd but interesting piece about myths and storytelling.

Published 1972