Destroyer Duck #2 [1983]

by
Posted in Genre, Humour, Science Fiction.

The year after the lawsuit benefit one-shot, DESTROYER DUCK returned for a regular series, with the Gerber/Kirby/Alcala team re-united up to #5. This issue features “Mommie Noises”, which begins with Duke building a device to get back to his Earth while Holmes is suing GodCorp. Duke is targeted for assassination, but defeats the would-be assassin (with some odd asides about Mariel Hemingway which I don’t get). Meanwhile, in one of my favourite scenes in the series (and setting up my absolute favourite in an upcoming issue), company man Booster Cogburn delivers some arms and a message to a General in Hoqoom, and gets uppity, only to get shot and have his spine crawl off.

Destroyer Duck #2 [1983]

We then catch up with the GodCorp executives and their plans for Hoqoom, including the exploitation of Vanilla Cupcake, and then we meet Medea, a rather strange but brilliant parody of the then-popular Elektra. While Duke has his battle with her, we find out more about Vanilla Cupcake and the Cogburn.

It’s a fun issue setting up the storylines for the next few issues, with some nicely wacky characters and some interesting art by Kirby in the fight scenes. I really like Alcala’s inks in here as well, especially with the very nice paper and printing that Eclipse had at the time.

The cover is by Kirby/Alcala, and this issue also has the first chapter of the Jerry Siegel/Val Mayerik series “The Starling”.

Published 1983

1970s Team Covers

by
Posted in Gallery.

AVENGERS #158, 1977. Joe Sinnott inks. Boy, that Wonder Man costume is quite an eye-sore, isn’t it?

FANTASTIC FOUR #173, 1976. Joe Sinnott inks. Very nice image of the FF and one of their greatest foes.

MARVEL PREMIERE #29, 1976. Frank Giacoia inks. Spinning out of the pages of the Invaders, a very nice cover of the various golden age and pseudo-golden age second stringers.

Machine Man #2 [1978] – House of Nightmares

by
Posted in Genre, Science Fiction.

The adventures of X-51 continue, as he’s plagued by nightmares regarding his humanity. Still on the run from the Army, he visits a gas station and buys some tires (using some newly created diamonds for currency. Meanwhile, Doctor Spalding, who had met X-51 back in #1, is dealing with a patient who is having odd delusions about being in a space-ship falling into a sun.

As the army catches up with him, MM bursts out of the gas station (which I guess explains why he grossly over-paid for the tires) with his new wheels (three tires attached to him with rods) and escapes. He then goes out and drives some motorcyclists off the road (I’m not sure if that’s still Kirby working out his resentment of the motorcyclists outside his first California home, as mentioned in one TJKC article).

Machine Man #2 [1978]

He then arrives in Central City and goes to see the doctor, who agrees to help him. Just then MM notices an interstellar transmission, which is the same thing the patient had been receiving, and translates it into a visual representation of a ship in distress. They begin to plan a rescue, which will lead to the battle with Ten-For.

Mike Royer inks the 17-page story, Frank Giacoia inks the cover and Jack Kirby writes a text page about potential machine rights.

Published 1978

Upcoming Kirby – Complete & Collector

by
Posted in Upcoming Kirby.

A couple of nice releases scheduled for April. Pure Imagination returns to the COMPLETE series with more from 1947, which should be fun, and TJKC looks at the 1970s at DC, and have managed to dig up yet another Kirby interview. Man, it’s a wonder he was able to draw as much as he did with all these fans interviewing him all the time.

Also, check out www.arflovers.com for more on the previously mentioned MODERN ARF, including a look at a page of the Kirby story that will be reprinted in there, plus a caricature of Kirby by artist David Cowles and a look at Roy Lichtenstein’s use of a Kirby panel.

COMPLETE JACK KIRBY VOLUME 5 TP
The work of Jack Kirby, “The King of Comics,” continues to be reprinted in this ongoing series. This time it’s from the fall of 1947, and features a red-hot series of stories by Kirby in his prime! Important moments in Comics history which include the first issue of Young Romance, the first romance comic; as well as Justice Traps the Guilty #1, with a cover featuring a killer in the electric chair, ready to fry! No wonder it sold out on the stands! Also included are three Flyin’ Fool stories, his last Lockjaw the Alligator, and Earl The Rich Rabbit stories; crime from Headline Comics; and high-school humor from My Date Comics. A must-have for the fans of Jack Kirby!
SC, 8×11, B&W SRP: $25.00

JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #42
This is the “Hip” issue, spotlighting all the funky, clunky stuff Kirby did at 1970s DC Comics! From Jimmy Olsen and Dingbats of Danger Street, to Kung-Fu Fighter and Soul Love, you’ll get it all! The issue features Kirby covers inked by Kevin Nowlan (Guardian and the Newsboy Legion) and Murphy Anderson (if you ever wondered what Jimmy Olsen would’ve looked like if Murphy had inked the whole book — and not just the Jimmy and Superman heads — you’ll find out as he inks the unused Kirby cover from Jimmy Olsen #147! Also, both inkers share their thoughts on inking the King! Plus, a never-published interview with Kirby himself! Includes the usual columnists and features, including Mark Evanier answering Frequently Asked Questions. And a colossal gallery of Jack’s finest pencil work at whopping tabloid size!
Tabloid, 10 x 15, 80pgs, B&W SRP: $9.95

DC Special #4 [1969] – The Magic Hammer

by
Posted in Genre, Horror/Fantasy.

This issue reprints the Kirby story from TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED #16 (1957). Unfortunately, they added a framing sequence to the issue with all the DC horror comic hosts of the era, so they cut out the title image on the first page and start with the bottom tier of the first page. Not sure if they did any other editing.

Anyway, the story features Bard, a prospector, finding a hammer out in the desert, and finding it causes rainstorms when thrown. He sells the rain-making ability for a while, then finds out the hammer can also cause destruction when thrown, and plans to use it to rob banks. Suddenly he’s confronted by the figure of the Norse god Thor.

dcspec4

Thor explains how the mischievous Loki stole his hammer centuries ago, and how Thor’d been punished by being reduced to human size until he found his hammer. With his hammer returned, Thor grows to his old godly size, leaving Bard scared straight while Thor goes out to take care of Loki.

This is a really attractive story, especially with these Thor and Loki characters, who really have some potential. I suppose it’s not too likely, but I’d love to see a collection of Kirby’s scattered short stories and covers for the DC sci-fi/fantasy books of the 1950s.

Published 1969

Devil Dinosaur #8 [1978]

by
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]

by
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

by
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]

by
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]

by
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