Monthly Archives: January 2005

R.I.P. Will Eisner

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Posted in Admin.

Will Eisner, who Kirby worked for in the Eisner/Iger shop in the 1930s, has passed away at age 87.

You can read a 1997 interview with Eisner about Kirby from TJKC #16, and an early 1980s conversation between Kirby and Eisner is available in WILL EISNER’S SHOP TALK.

There is another thing I can tell you. I did a book called The Dreamer [Kitchen Sink, 1986], in which I showed Jack Kirby, and Jack said to somebody, “I didn’t think Will liked me that much!” (laughter) He always called me “boss.” (laughter) I said, “Jack, we’re old men now, you don’t have to call me boss anymore.” “No,” he said, “you’re still my boss.” (laughter)

[Video] Thundarr – Wizard Wars

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Posted in Video.

Probably the animation property most associated with Kirby in the 1980s is THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN, which had 21 episodes produced by Ruby-Spears from 1980-82. Alex Toth designed the main characters, and Kirby was brought in later to do character design, so many of the villains and vehicles were based on his work, sometimes quite obviously. He also worked on such things as an unsold proposal for a Thundarr newspaper strip. On the writing side, head writer was Steve Gerber, who Kirby worked with on DESTROYER DUCK around this time, and Mark Evanier was also on the writing staff.

The premise of the series is a hodge-podge of fantasy/sci-fi elements. Apparently, and I don’t know if you noticed this, about 10 years in the past (well, it says 1994) a rogue planet zoomed between the Earth and Moon, ripping the moon in half and wrecking havoc on Earth. The series is set 2000 years later, in a land of ruined cities, “savagery, super science, and sorcery”, with a group of three companions, Thundarr, Ookla and Princess Ariel, riding from town to town, righting wrongs.

I have a tape with several-generation-down copies of a bunch of the episodes, so every now and then I’ll just post a few words on them, mostly on what seems to be the Kirbyest aspect.

“Wizard Wars” was the first episode of the second season. Thundarr and company get in the middle of a battle between two wizards, the first of whom, Skullus, pretty much has to be pure Kirby. He’s a head in a glass dome, controlling four-armed magical robots. It’s not so clear in the graphic here, but he even has Kirby squiggles on his head.

That’s the clearest Kirby moment in this episode. The other wizard, Octagon, isn’t as distinctive, although he does have Doctor Octopus style arms, both on himself and on his headquarters, which look neat.

Image lifted from the Thundarr fan website, www.thundarr.com, where you can also find an episode guide with a detailed summary of this episode and more. It also has a petition to get a DVD release of the series, which seems inevitable given almost everything else is getting released on DVD these days. Hopefully if they do one, they’ll find some way to incorporate Kirby’s raw design work (and Toth’s as well), maybe as part of an insert booklet, or a video feature or DVD-ROM extra.

Broadcast circa 1981

Atlas Cover Gallery [World of Fantasy, Tales to Astonish, Strange Worlds]

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Posted in Gallery.

A trio of Kirby’s covers to Atlas books from shortly after his return, all three inked by Christopher Rule according to the Kirby Checklist.

TALES TO ASTONISH #3, 1959. Typical Kirby fleeing crowds, and good details on the buildings.

STRANGE WORLDS #5, 1959. A nice break from the giant monster and alien themes that dominate these covers, this looks like a good horror/sci-fi cover, reminds me a bit of the BLACK MAGIC stuff from earlier in the decade. Very nice face on the foreground figure.

WORLD OF FANTASY #15, 1958. And here we get some nice Kirby machinery, though not as elaborate as he would soon get. And the scan doesn’t really show it, but the aliens are neat, and there’s some good linework on the foreground scientist’s face.

Upcoming Kirby – Bicentennial Battles TPB

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Posted in Upcoming Kirby.

Just a quick note that while looking through Amazon’s listings, they have a book called CAPTAIN AMERICA: BICENTENNIAL BATTLES due next summer. These early listings on Amazon are always subject to change, and there are no content listings, but I would imagine this will include the tabloid format book of that title, along with some issues of the regular run of CAP from that era (maybe ANNUAL #3).

Other upcoming books noticed that hadn’t been announced elsewhere, ESSENTIAL FF v4 and a paperback edition of Ronin Ro’s TALES TO ASTONISH.

The Greatest Golden-Age Stories Ever Told [1990]

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Posted in Genre, Kid Gang, War.

THE GREATEST GOLDEN-AGE STORIES EVER TOLD was a 1990 DC hardcover collection various stories from the 1930s to the 1950s DC comics, plus those of other publishers they acquired. Simon&Kirby are represented by a reprint of the 12-page Boy Commandos story from DETECTIVE COMICS #69 (1942), “The Siege of Krovka”.

After a great opening splash of the Commandos on a fanciful ice sled (and I have to say, the splash-page logo use for BC stories is excellent), we get the mood of the times with a scene of Hitler ordering his troops to take Russia, never mind the cold. This speech is nicely delivered as Hitler exits “Der Fuehrer’s Steam Bath”. We’re then told that “the fear of their Fuehrer’s wrath drives the brutal, moronic Nazi legions forward”. Moving from the Nazis, we see the brave Russian defenders, as epitomized by one particular group, the Vanin family. FDR also makes a cameo, with a radio speech. When the town is under siege, young Tanya sneaks out to send a message, getting shot in the process. Struggling on, she gets found by Rip Carter and the Boy Commandos with their sled. After getting her message, Rip and three of the boys go off with a plane and glider to help hold Krovka until reinforcements can arrive, while Brooklyn and Tanya get left behind and take the sled, blowing up some German munitions convoy.

krovka

Tanya earns Brooklyn’s respect thanks to her skill with a tommy-gun on the way over, and she seems taken with him as well, although she does give him language instruction book so she can understand him. A book on learning English, that is.

Very fun story, although focusing a little bit less on the boys than usual. The art is excellent, very well rendered and fast-moving.

Author bios in the back also have a short blurb about S&K as well.

As far as I know, there was only a hardcover edition of this book, unlike most of the books in DC’s GREATEST… STORIES EVER TOLD series.

Published 1990

Marvel Spectacular #1 [1973]

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Posted in Genre, Superhero.

In 1973, MARVEL SPECTACULAR picked up the Thor reprints from SPECIAL MARVEL EDITION left off the previous year (with enough of a gap that they added an apology for it on the first page). “The Power of Pluto” is reprinted from THOR #128. As we open, Thor is recovering from the battle with Seidring. I find it amusing that his bed is in the shape of a viking ship, as it makes me think of those race-car beds made for five-year-old boys. Anyway, proud papa Odin visits, actually feeling guilty for weakening Thor, leading to his injuries, and dispenses ironic Odinic justice to Seidring. Meanwhile, on Earth, Hercules proves to be as smart as a bagful of hammers, as he lets Pluto convince him to sign a “movie contract” that really consigns him to rule the netherworld in Pluto’s place (although, to be fair, that movie set Pluto built for the ruse was spectacular). After recovering with some hunting and dueling in Asgard, Thor seeks out Hercules to avenge his honour from his defeat two issues before, only to see Herc under siege from the denizens of the netherworld, and comes to his aid.

Marvel Spectacular #1 [1973]

They’re victorious after Pluto departs, but Hercules knows he’ll still have to deal with Pluto taking his contract to Zeus, which even Thor knows is a bad thing.

This whole sequence with Hercules is rousing good fun, with some of the best fight scenes Kirby ever did. I’ve got it all in scattered formats, so I’m looking forward to seeing it straight through in black and white (and I find Colletta somewhat improved without the colour, as long as they’re able to get a solid reproduction source) in the upcoming ESSENTIAL THOR v2.

They also pick up the “Tales of Asgard” reprints, which were running a year behind, so this issue has “The Challenge” from JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #116. This is one of the stories where Loki tries to trap Thor, this time by encouraging King Hymir of the ridiculously big crown to challenge Thor to various tasks. Thor almost fails, but thanks to his charm with the ladies and his willingness to kill the King he triumphs, much to Loki’s frustration. And I have to say, those Asgardians let Loki get pretty far before they finally realized he was a villain.

This was one of those eras where they apparently thought word balloons on the cover were what sold comics, so this issue reprints the original cover from THOR #128, but with some superfluous dialogue and much brighter colours.

All inks by Colletta.

Published August 1973

The Conversion of Tegujai Batir

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Posted in Genre, Other.

In the 1995 anthology DAVID COPPERFIELD’S TALES OF THE IMPOSSIBLE, you’ll find the short story “The Conversion of Tegujai Batir”, which was “extrapolated” by Janet Berliner from Kirby’s unfinished novel THE HORDE, one of two such stories published (the other was in a sci-fi magazine called GALAXY in 1994). If you want to know more about the complicated history of the novel and the various attempts by others to complete/expand/adapt it, check out the 32nd issue of THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR, or this page on the TwoMorrows website.

This chapter isn’t really an easy story to read. I got the book several years ago, and it took me a while to get past the first few pages. After that it opens up a bit, either because I got used to the rhythms of the writing or because the plot moved to more interesting things. This story tells how the Mongolian youth, Tegujai Batir, came to be possessed by a jinn, then exiled from his home to join the Russian army in WWII, returns home to conquer as part of the Chinese army after the war, and began his plans for conquest that involve tunnels under the earth.

Out of this hatred was born the concept of the army that he would form., the one that would become known as the great worm. Its guiding will lived with him and among those who surrounded him

I’m not sure how much of Kirby’s own version of the story is in this extract, but it does have a few moments that seem to distantly echo themes he explored in other ways in his comic book work. Hopefully, if/when any of the attempts to complete the story reach fruition, we’ll at least get to see the 1979 five-page outline mentioned in the JKC article, or ideally one or more of the complete unfinished manuscripts that Kirby wrote.

The story is 18 pages, plus a short introduction by Copperfield and a chapter illustration by an artist who seems to be uncredited in the book. There’s also a brief bio of Kirby in the back.

Mister Miracle #13 [1973]

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Posted in Genre, Superhero.

The issues of MISTER MIRACLE after the other Fourth World books were cancelled don’t get that much attention, as they mostly shy away from the big cosmic over-arching plot and tell simpler adventure stories. They’re fun books, for the most part, but seem to show a bit of Kirby trying to figure out exactly what DC wanted from him after they’d responded to two years of some of the best work of his career with multiple cancellations (though that was largely a DC thing, very few books they launched in that era lasted much longer than the average Kirby book).

MISTER MIRACLE #13, “The Dictator’s Dungeon”, is a few months after the companion titles had been cancelled. After Scott Free practices yet another close escape, this time from a train, Ted Brown is captured by a flying ship, piloted by odd man-ape creatures (which Kirby calls “aboriginal”, but I’m not certain he’s using it in the right sense). Scott and Barda are also accidentally captured by the same ship, breaking in and cleaning house.

Mister Miracle #13 [1973]

The ship takes them to Mount Everest, where we meet King Komodo, a masked man who’s taken control of the abominable snowmen of the region, and who turns out to be Nazi war criminal Albert von Killowitz, who Ted had recognized and escaped from in Korea some years earlier. Of course they defeat him and take him in eventually.

It’s an odd story, with some promise that it doesn’t quite manage to achieve. There are a lot of nice things, especially the characterization of Barda and her interplay with Scott and Oberon. There’s a cover layout that’s been printed a few times that shows Kirby considered a “Big Barda and Her Female Furies” series, and I’m kind of sorry he never got a chance to do it, as he always had fun with the character even in small scenes.

“That Jockey of the Ink Jars” Mike Royer inks the 23 page story and cover.

Published 1973

Classic 1950s covers [Hi-School Romance, Love Problems, Wyatt Earp]

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Posted in Gallery.

HI-SCHOOL ROMANCE #55, 1956. Boy, that guy’s in trouble. Very nice, understated cover, which really shows off Kirby’s skill with facial expressions.

TRUE LOVE PROBLEMS AND ADVICE ILLUSTRATED #38, 1956. This is one of my absolute favourite of the romance covers, and I just wish there was a Kirby story to go along with it. Heck, I’d like to know if there’s a non-Kirby story that fits that cover in the issue.

WYATT EARP #24, 1959. And more western fun for all. I like how in a composition like this Kirby manages to capture a key moment, with Earp just ready to move, frozen in a classic Kirby pose.