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.

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 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.

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

Here’s one that always fascinated me. The Spidey figure on the cover of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #35 is a Kirby figure (usually attributed to Ditko inks, but I never quite saw that). Don’t think it’s ever been reprinted in any other version in English (unlike some other covers with paste-ups which reverted in reprints), but someone dug up this foreign reprint. Click for a closer look at both covers.

(see comments for more, including a reprinting of the original in an English edition that I didn’t know about)

I will say that the modified version is the more attractive cover, with a great Spidey figure. I’m not sure exactly why the original was seen as needing altering, though. Too unflattering a pose for the hero? Did it make Spidey’s butt look too big?

MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #43 offers an almost complete reprint of “Klaw – The Murderous Master of Sound” from FF #56 in 1966, including the cover. Joe Sinnott inks, of course. In the main story, Klaw, from the recent Black Panther storyline, returns to attack the FF with new powers and a new costume, hoping to lure in the Panther. He seals off Reed and Ben in the lab while attacking Sue. There’s some great Reed/Ben interplay in their scenes this issue, like Ben asking “How come ya never cook up any gizmos that work better on guys who can stretch?”.

The FF prevail in the end, thanks to a remote assist from T’Challa with a delivery of vibranium.

As all this occurs, the Inhumans remain imprisoned, with Black Bolt becoming injured trying to escape, while Johnny and Wyatt Wingfoot continue their search for the Inhumans with Lockjaw, the teleporting dog. God, I love all these characters introduced in just the previous year of the book.

Unfortunately, this issue removes the last tier of panels from the final page, which set-up the Surfer/Doom storyline, since they were skipping it in this book, having reprinted it in MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION the previous year (which, looking at the dates now, is odd. They were reprinting the second major Surfer story in one book while reprinting the first one in another).

Published 1973