Monthly Archives: February 2007

Fantastic Four #76 [1968] – Stranded in Sub-Atomica

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As Galactus readies the Earth for his latest meal, the boys of the FF head into Sub-Atomica, home of the Psycho-Man, to convince the Silver Surfer to return. Not knowing their reasons, the Surfer is reluctant since he’s grooving to the cosmic waves of the microscopic universe, and then the FF get attacked by a minion of the Psycho-Man. Eventually the Surfer realizes what’s going on up on Earth and returns to meet his destiny, while the FF stay behind to deal with the Psycho-Man.

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There’s some great stuff in this issue, especially the weird molecular model backdrops that make up Sub-Atomica. And of course Galactus is always cool. I was bugged by the token scene of Sue, pregnant and being kept in the dark by Crystal about the whole Galactus attack and mission. It’s always kind of frustrating in the whole run of the series how Sue goes back and forth from being an equal member of the team to being an outdated stereotype.

Joe Sinnott inks the cover and 20-page story.

Published 1968

Kid Colt Outlaw #103 [1962] – Cover

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Typical day on the range for Kid Colt…

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That horse must get so sick of this after a while. Catch train, get shot at, have the Kid jump off at full gallop…

A nice little Kirby/Ayers cover.

Published 1962

The Forever People #1 [1971] – In Search of a Dream

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This book was the first Kirby wrote and drew on his 1970 return to DC, although it wasn’t published until after a few JIMMY OLSEN issues. The four boys of the Forever People arrive on Earth through a Boom Tube in their Super-Cycle in search of the kidnapped Beautiful Dreamer, almost running some of Jimmy Olsen’s friends off the road in the process. Serifan makes contact with Dreamer as Intergang keeps an eye on the group under the directions of Darkseid.

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Superman finds out about the kids and their point of origin, Supertown, just as he’s feeling introspective about Superman’s place in the world and how humanity relates to him. Finding them, he gets involved in a battle with Darkseid’s Gravi-Guards, which prompts the boys to summon the Infinity Man. After the battle Darkseid shows up in person, releasing Dreamer since she’s proves not to hold the key to the Anti-Life Equation, but leaving a bomb as a parting gift. Superman then asks the kids about Supertown, though they urge him to stay and help in the battle against Darkseid. Superman starts to go down the Boom Tube to find out about Supertown to see if that’s a place where he’d fit in, but turns back at the last minute, feeling he’s turning his back on the threat to Earth.

Lots of interesting things in here, but kind of an odd launch to the line. You don’t find out too much about the main characters (Beautiful Dreamer doesn’t even have any dialogue), but there are a lot of intriguing hints. The Superman stuff is also odd, kind of putting focus on the differences between Marvel and DC ways of doing things in that era (magnified by what was done to the art).

Vince Colletta inks the 24-page story, with Al Plastino paste-ups on the Superman and Jimmy Olsen figures, and Frank Giacoia inks the cover. This issue also includes the “Visit With Jack Kirby” page by Marv Wolfman that ran across the Fourth World debut issues, mentioning how Wolfman and Len Wein had seen versions of some of the concepts just now showing up four years earlier.

Published 1971

New Kirby – Daredevil Masterworks v4

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Also out this week, MARVEL MASTERWORKS – DAREDEVIL v4, mostly containing a run of Gene Colan’s work on DD, but to fill out a crossover also including some Kirby in the form of FANTASTIC FOUR #73.

New Kirby – Kamandi Archives v2

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KAMANDI ARCHIVES VOL. 2, collecting #11 – #20 of the series, is out this week. All sorts of wonders in here, including Sacker’s Department Store, the secret of the Watergate tapes, robot gangsters and, in “The Hospital”, as much of an explanation as we get of the origin of Earth A.D. (After Disaster).

Also available from amazon.com.

The Avengers #155 [1977] – Cover

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Okay, the Whizzer is kind of lame, and that’s a really awful Wonder Man costume, but just look at that image of Doom, especially that arm (too bad the UPC symbol gets in the way there). Great little image of the classic Kirby villain. And while a bit wordy, I do always like the nod to the classic Marvel trope of villains betraying each other.

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Inks by Al Milgrom.

Published 1977

Upcoming Kirby – Complete Kirby v5

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Pure Imagination has THE COMPLETE KIRBY v5 back on the schedule. This was solicited back in 2005 but never came out. Hopefully this time it will. Lots of great stuff in this era. Note that this is labelled as “Volume 4” in some of the material I’ve seen from Diamond’s solicitations, but would actually be Volume 5.


THE COMPLETE JACK KIRBY VOLUME 5 TP
by Jack Kirby & Joe Simon
160 pages of art and story by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon from September and October of 1947. Amazing material includes: “My Date,” “The Flyin’ Fool,” “Lockjaw the Alligator,” crime stories, and the first issue of Young Romance. Foreword by Kirby historian Greg Theakston.
Softcover, 8×11, 160pgs, B&W $25.00

Upcoming Kirby – Silver Surfer Omnibus

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Since he’s going to be in a movie, the Surfer gets a big book. Mostly Buscema, of course, but Kirby’s there for #18, and if Marvel follows the precedent of their other recent Surfer reprints this book might include the Kirby Surfer solo story from FF ANNUAL #5.

A second FF OMNIBUS, including the original Surfer story and a whole lot more, will also be out this summer.


SILVER SURFER OMNIBUS VOL. 1 HC
Written by STAN LEE
Penciled by JOHN BUSCEMA with JACK KIRBY
Cover by JOHN BUSCEMA

Born by the hand of the world-devourer, Galactus, Norrin Radd sacrificed himself to save his home planet and his true love, Shalla-Bal, but the price of their lives was servitude to the mighty Galactus – as his herald, the Silver Surfer! Now, exiled upon Earth, he struggles to understand the beauty and humanity of mortal men, and nobly seeks to heal the rifts that separate man from his brothers. Created by the titanic team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the pages of FANTASTIC FOUR, the Silver Surfer went on to become one of the most-beloved characters in all comicdom. Embodying the mind-blowing concepts of Kirby and Stan’s socially conscious writing craft, the Surfer’s stories expressed their creative vision in staggering and unique tales. Another talent would touch the character, however, granting him a soul-wrenching humanity that helped define him to this very day: the one and only John Buscema! A master of the craft, Buscema’s Silver Surfer is considered by many to be the peak of comic-book art.

Now, the original adventures of the Silver Surfer are presented in one complete volume! Containing every story and letters page, restored and recolored to match the original issues, plus behind-the-scenes bonuses and critical essays, this book is the guaranteed way to get in on the character in the upcoming Fantastic Four film!
Collecting SILVER SURFER #1-18.
576 PGS. $74.99
ISBN: 0-7851-2752-6

-Link- Larsen on 1980s Kirby (with reprint news)

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Image Comics publisher Erik Larsen writes about Jack Kirby, in particular the 1980s work published by Pacific, confirming the rumour that Image will be reprinting SILVER STAR and CAPTAIN VICTORY in the near future, in single full colour volumes for each. He also talks a bit about how they’re handling the colouring, which was pretty inconsistent in the originals.

Star Spangled Comics #51 [1945] – Cover

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Some nice goofy Golden Age fun on this cover, from the robot having a machine gun hand to it being clearly labelled “Robot Robber”. a lot of nice detailing on the robot, where you can see the genesis of some of the increasingly wild machines Kirby would design in later years.

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Published 1945